Don't Fear the Reaper
by WomanOfMayhem
Summary: A rival motorcycle club has started a war with SAMCRO. The Sons enlist the help of a female mercenary, who has a closer connection to the club than they realize. Based after S7. Everyone is alive.
1. Prologue

The full moon shined brightly overhead as SAMCRO rode down the empty highway. The rumble of the Harleys echoed through the canyon like thunder. They moved together as one. Riding only inches apart, trusting each other to ride straight and true.

A hundred feet back, a white truck followed them. It contained the illegal cargo they were escorting. They had done this run a dozen times in the last six months, and tonight was just as uneventful as the rest of the times. Just the rumble of their engines and the whole open road ahead of them.

They were on the last leg of their run. The home stretch. When, suddenly, a dark SUV came out of nowhere and blocked the road in front of the white truck. A handful of masked men jumped out of the SUV with guns drawn. They approached the truck, pointing their guns at Ratboy who sat behind the wheel of the truck.

"Get out of the truck and keep your hands up!" one of the masked men yelled. "And don't try any funny business!"

Ratboy kept his hands up as he got out of the truck. He prayed that the other guy would realize that he wasn't following them anymore. His prayers were answered when bullets started whizzing past his head. He tried to drop to the ground, but he was brought to his feet and was used as cover for one of the masked men.

"Get the truck, and let's get the fuck out of here!" one of them ordered.

The man holding Rat shoved him into the ditch at the side of the road. He started for the SUV to make for the getaway, but fell short when a bullet from someone from SAMCRO hit him in the leg. His crew must have cared more for the cargo in the truck then one of their men because both the truck and the SUV sped off in the other direction.

Rat scrambled to his feet checking for any bullet holes as Jax, Happy, and Chibs ran to the guy laying in the road. Happy took the man's gun away while Jax grabbed the man by the front of his jacket.

"Who are you?" Jax demanded. When he didn't get an answer, he drew his fist back and then connected it to the guy's face. "Tell us who you are!"

"Jackie, this is not the place for this," Chibs warned as he looked around.

Jax reluctantly nodded and stood up. His VP was right. Anyone could come across them out there. "Call Montez. Tell him to bring the van to pick up this piece of shit," Jax ordered Tig. Tig nodded and then walked away to make the call. Jax then looked to Chibs. "Fix up his leg. I don't want him to die before he tells us where they took the guns." He ran his fingers through his hair. "And clear off the road. We don't need anyone calling the cops."

Jax walked back to his bike. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes as stared up at the night sky. He wished things could go their way just once. That they could do what they need to without something getting in their way, but that's what happens when you're on the wrong side of the law.

* * *

After heading home for a shower and spending some time with Tara and the boys, it was late morning by the time Jax rode up to their gun warehouse outside of Charming.

They had let Happy take their new friend up here to get some answers out of him. Jax hoped that Hap had gotten something out of him. If they weren't able to get the guns back in time, shit was going to hit the fan.

Happy and Chibs walked towards Jax as he walked into the warehouse. Their guest was chained to a chair, and he didn't look so good.

"I can't get anything out of him," Happy said as he wiped the blood off his hands. "And I've tried everything I can think of without killing him."

"Shit," Jax muttered.

"We need to find those guns, Jackie," Chibs said pointedly. "The Mayans will not be happy if their shipment is late. They already paid for it."

"I know that," Jax snapped. He let out a sigh. "Look, we got to find out who these guys are, and where they took the guns. And we need to do it soon."

"I'll keep trying to get him to talk, but I know someone who could get it done fast," Happy said hoarsely.

"We don't have the kind of money to hire someone," Chibs said automatically.

Happy smirked. "Don't worry. They owe me a favor."

Jax and Chibs shared a look. They didn't have a better idea at the moment. Chibs shrugged his shoulders before walking away.

"Make the call," Jax told Happy.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So this is my first time posting on fanfiction. I have been working on this for a while and just now got the balls to post it. Hope you enjoy it. There's a whole lot more coming your way.


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**

Thank you so much to all of you who followed, favorited, and reviewed this after only reading the first chapter. You are too legit to quit!

For anyone interested, my story tumblr page is womenofmayhem

* * *

She resisted rolling her eyes as she rode past the welcome to Charming sign. "Welcome to Charming. Our name says it all." This town was far from charming after everything that had happened the last few years.

She had sworn to herself that she would never step foot in the Californian town again. In fact, she wouldn't have even considered it if it was a paying job, but Happy just had to bring up the fact that she owed him her life. She had known Happy since she was a teenager and he was prospecting for SAMTAC. Even then, he was still the cold blooded killer that they knew today, but somehow she had gotten past his hard exterior.

TM wasn't hard to find. Even with the large yellow sign that hung above the shop, the reapers that were painted everywhere and the row of Harleys made it stick out like a sore thumb. She parked her own Harley at the end of the row. She looked around the lot, taking in her surroundings. From what she could tell, no one was outside. She took her time getting off her bike and taking her helmet off. She ran her fingers through her tangled dark hair. After being on the road for ten hours, she was sure she looked a little worse for wear.

"Can I help you, lass?" a Scottish voice said from behind her.

She spun around to see who it was. He wore a leather kutte with a vice president patch on his chest. He was tall and had a weathered handsomeness about him.

She took several steps closer to him. "Oh, there are several things you can help me with." She chewed on her lip as she continued to look him over. Finally, she dragged her eyes back up to his face. She took off her sunglasses. "I'm looking for Happy Lowman."

He narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?" he questioned.

She fought back a smirk. She opened her mouth to explain herself but was interrupted by a familiar voice yelling her name.

"Loveless!" Happy yelled as he came out of the clubhouse.

A big smile spread across her face. "Lowman!" she yelled. She pushed past the man in front of her and jogged to Happy. He pulled her into his arms. He smelt just like she remembered. Leather and the same cheap soap he had used since she first met him.

"Glad you could make it, Love," Hap said, smirking down at her.

"Well, you know, anything for the guy who saved my life 15 years ago," she said pointedly. He grinned down at her. "You ever going to let that go?"

"Nope," he smirked. "And I've saved your life more than once."

"Figures," she said rolling her eyes.

Someone cleared their throat behind them. They turned around to see the whole club watching them.

"Who's your friend, Hap?" Jax asked.

Happy looked down at her with a questioning glance. She gave him a quick nod giving him the okay to share her name.

"This is Ophelia Loveless. My friend who can get anyone to talk," Happy explained, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"You didn't mention that it was a chick," Tig said as his eyes trailed over her body.

Jax stepped forward and held out his hand for her to shake. "Glad you could make it here so quickly."

"Yeah, you were lucky I was in Vegas and not halfway across the country," she said shaking his hand.

"I'm Jax."

"Nice to meet you," she said sounding uninterested. "I was told you needed answers quickly."

"Yeah, the sooner the better," Jax said as he nodded his head.

"Then take me to him."

* * *

She rode along side of Happy down a dirt road. Jax and Chibs rode ahead of them with a few other members behind them. They came to a building surrounded by trees. As far as she could tell, there wasn't any houses near by. It was good that they were keeping this guy in the middle of nowhere. They were being smart about something at least.

"Give me a rundown of what happened," she said as they walked to the warehouse.

"We were outside of Lodi. A dark SUV came out of nowhere and blocked the highway between us and our truck," Jax explained from beside her. "There was five of them. They pulled our guy out of the truck and then took off with our shipment."

"Guns?" she asked, but she already knew the answer.

Jax thought for a moment and then nodded. He stopped her outside of the door. "We just need to find out who they are and where they took our shipment."

"That I can do," she said. She pulled out a pack of smokes from her pocket, and placed one between her lips. As she lit the cigarette, she looked to Happy. "You wanna watch?"

"Hell yeah," he grinned. He opened the door for her, leaving Jax and the rest of them outside.

Once Ophelia's eyes adjusted to darkness inside, she saw their prisoner slumped over in a chair in the middle of the room. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Another member of SAMCRO stepped out of the darkness. He was younger than most of the other members. He had a mohawk with tribal tattoos on either side.

"I'll let you guys do your thing," he mumbled before slipping out of the room.

"Jesus Christ, Hap," she muttered as she walked closer to the guy in the chair. He looked like he was half dead.

Ophelia knelt down in front of him. His hair was coated with blood and stuck to his face. She carefully brushed hair away from his eyes. He had a large cut over his right eye. His left eye was swollen shut. His nose looked broken, and his lip was split open. She could only imagine what the rest of him looked like.

"Man, Hap really did a number on you," she mumbled.

His eyes fluttered open and hissed as he breathed. He looked at her carefully. "You here to finish the job?" he asked.

"Depends on what you tell me," she said, giving him a small smile. She snubbed out her cigarette before she took off her backpack. She then reached inside and pulled out her worn medical bag. "You see, if you tell me everything I want, I'll patch you up. If you don't, well, I guarantee that you won't be walking out of here."

"Who are you?" he breathed, wincing as he moved.

"You can call me Lily," she smiled as she set up her supplies. "Can you tell me who you are?"

Happy stood back as he watched Ophelia do her thing. It had been a long time since he had watched her work. Unlike himself, who caused pain quickly to get answers, she took her time. She played mind games with them. Got them to tell her everything without even realizing it. It was hard for him to admit that she was better at it than him. He was the one that taught her everything in the first place. He had seen the wrath and ruthlessness that hid behind her blue eyes.

Before Happy knew it, Ophelia was walking towards him. He could tell by her smirk that she had found something out, but he hadn't heard the guy say anything.

Hap looked down at his watch. "10 minutes. That must be a new record for you," he said, smirking.

She rolled her eyes. "You did most of the work anyways." She patted his chest as she walked outside. She found Jax leaning against his Harley talking to Chibs and Tig.

"Let me guess, you accidently killed him?" Tig said as they watched her come closer.

Ophelia crossed her arms. "He's part of the Devil's Horsemen," she said to Jax, ignoring Tig.

"Never heard of them," Chibs said.

"Aren't they in the Bible?" Tig asked, scrunching up his face.

She sighed. "The Devil's Horsemen is an MC based out of Texas, but I'm guessing since he's so far from home, they have a new charter nearby."

"He told you this?" Jax asked, slightly impressed.

Ophelia shrugged. "More or less," she said. "I saw his club ink."

The guys shared a looked. "What do you know about them?" Jax asked.

"They mainly run drugs for a cartel, but they also deal and sell guns," she explained. "These guys aren't just lowlifes. They've all done hard crime, and they're smart. The Feds can't get any convictions on any members. If the Devil's Horsemen are expanding to the west coast, it's not good for anyone."

"If they sell guns, why steal ours?" Chibs asked.

"Initiation. Show you guys there's a new player in town," she shrugged. "Hell if I know."

"How do you so much about them?" Jax asked.

"I had a run in with the mother charter a couple years ago," she said. "I did my homework then."

"This all great and everything, but it doesn't tell us where they took the guns," Chibs grumbled.

"Wait," she said, holding up her hand. "You said that these guys came out of nowhere when they hit you?"

"Yeah," Jax said slowly, wondering where she was going with this.

She licked her lips. "I need to talk to the guy who was driving the truck, and somebody get me a map."

"What are you thinking?" Happy asked as Jax got someone to get Rat and a map.

"There's nothing along that stretch of highway. If they came out of nowhere and disappeared just as fast, there's good chance that they've set up shop close by," she explained.

One of the guys laid out a map on the hood of the shoved a scraggly looking kid towards her.

"This is Ratboy. He was driving," Tig said.

Ophelia looked over the map. "Where did they hit the truck?" she asked.

"Here," Jax pointed to a spot on the map. Just like she suspected, there was nothing around it.

She looked at Rat. "You sure no one was following you?"

He nodded his head. "Yes, ma'am," he stuttered. "There wasn't anyone else on the road except us."

"And the SUV came out of nowhere?" she questioned.

"Yes, ma'am. I was following the guys, and as soon as they passed, an SUV was blocking the road," Rat said.

She examined the map carefully. "Here," she said suddenly as she pointed to a spot on the map. "It's an excess road to some state land." She looked to Jax. "I bet you that's where they stashed them."

Jax nodded his head, thinking what she said over. It made sense. "Okay."

She motioned towards the warehouse. "I'll go in there and get him to confirm everything. I'll find out how many guys they have," she said. She took a deep breath and looked Jax in the eye. "But I just want to put this out there. You got to think about this carefully. If you do this, it will start a war, and I guarantee that it will end bloody. The Horsemen will have every one of their charters come after anyone who wears a reaper."

"They started the war," Jax defended.

A big smile spread across her lips. "Alright," she said. "Let's do this shit." She turned around and went back into the warehouse.

Jax turned to Happy. "Why have you never mentioned her before?" he asked. After everything that had happened in the last five years, he wondered why Happy had kept Ophelia to himself. If she could figure out who this guy was and have a pretty good idea where they're keeping the guns within 15 minutes, he wondered what else she could do.

Happy shrugged. "She likes working alone and she hates Charming."

"What does she have against Charming?" Jax asked.

"Don't know," Hap said, shortly. "She doesn't like talking about it." He turned around and followed Ophelia back inside.

She walked back to their little friend. He watched her carefully as she circled around him. "I know you're a Devil's Horsemen," she said. His eyes went wide. "I know there's a new charter in California." She leaned down to his ear. "And I know where they took the guns."

He looked at her with narrowed eyes. "Then why am I still breathing?"

"Because I know you can be useful," she said. She grabbed a chair and sat down in front of him. "Your MC left you for dead. Left you bleeding out in the middle of the road in the hands of the enemy. They don't care what happens to you."

"It doesn't matter anyways," he said. "As soon as I tell you what you want, you'll kill me, and for whatever reason you decide to let me go, my club will kill me."

She leaned closer to him. "If you help us, I will make sure you stay breathing," she said. She sat back. "What do you have to lose? You don't tell me, you'll die. If I'm lying, well, you'll die knowing you helped."

He let a sigh. He didn't have a choice if he wanted any chance to stay alive. "What do you want to know?" he asked finally.


	3. Chapter 2

Jax stood in front of everyone with Chibs by his side. The entire club stood waiting to hear what the plan of attack was. Ophelia stood off to the side next to Happy. Her eyes were drooping. It had been almost two days since she had slept. She wanted nothing more than a shower and to get some sleep, but they didn't have any time to spare. They only had about four hours until they were suppose to meet with the Mayans with the guns.

Their captive, which is Ophelia had learned his name was Rooster, told her everything he knew. Ophelia had been right when she thought that they had set up shop on the state land. Apparently, there was an cabin that the Horsemen were storing the guns at. There was only six guys in the new charter, but one of the other charters from Texas was suppose to be crossing the California border soon. All of them were suppose to be well armed.

"I say we just drive right up to the front door and start shooting," Tig suggested.

Jax looked around the room. "Anyone have any problems with that?"

Ophelia raised her hand. "Um, I do." Everyone looked at her. "If you do that, all of us will be in one spot. Easier for us to get surrounded and die."

"They only have six guys," Happy said from beside her. "We've taken on more before."

"That's if the other charter hasn't shown up yet. Rooster said he wasn't sure when they were coming or how many of them will be there," she said trying to reason with them. "Shit will go south if you're outnumbered."

"What do you suggest we do then?" Chibs asked, clearly unsure of anything she would suggest.

She walked up to the map that was hanging up on the wall behind Jax. "There's two points of access to the cabin. That road that they're on goes all the way to the highway in the next county." She traced the tiny line with her finger. "I would drive up the front pretending to be lost. I can see how many there are and scout out the situation before you go in there guns blazing. There's enough of you to split into two groups. Each one to come in from either direction. Doing that, we have the upper hand." She turned back around to face everyone else. "We've blocked both their exits. They'll have nowhere to go. We would be able to get in, get the guns, and get out in less than five minutes. All while taking out at least half their guys."

All the men stayed silent as they tried to find a flaw in her plan. There was a risk no matter what they did, but with this, they would have the element of surprise.

"I like everything except you going by yourself," Jax said finally.

She folded her arms. "It wouldn't be very convincing if I roll up with a big bad biker in the car with me."

"You're not going by yourself," Happy growled.

She glared at Happy. She thought if anyone was going to be on her side, it was going to be Happy. Now was not the time for him to suddenly care about her safety. "Do I need to remind you that I work alone?"

"We're not letting go alone, lass," Chibs said.

She licked her lips. She was too tired to argue. "Fine," she huffed. She looked at each of the men in front of her. "Send Juice with me. He's the most normal looking one of you guys, but he's going to need a hat or something," she said before walking outside.

Juice looked to Jax in question.

"You heard the lady," Jax grinned. "Find a hat." Jax then told everyone to gather their gear and be ready in 15 minutes. As everyone else went to get ready, Bobby and Chibs hung back.

"You sure it's a good idea to have Juicey go with her?" Chibs asked, folding his arms across his chest. "We don't know her."

"Happy trusts her. That should be enough for anyone," Jax shrugged.

"Besides, she might help straighten him out," Bobby added smiling.

* * *

Juice sat in the passenger seat as Ophelia drove up the dirt road. He stared out the window, but it was so dark out that he couldn't see anything. Neither one had said anything since they had gotten in the car. Ophelia couldn't tell if there was something bothering him or if he was just scared of her.

"Where are you from?" Ophelia asked, trying to make conversation to hopefully calm him down.

Juice jumped in his seat and looked to her in surprise. "What?" he asked.

"Where are you from?" she repeated. "Like where did you live before you came to Charming?"

He looked down and fiddled with the hem of his sweatshirt. "Queens," he said quietly.

"Hm," she smiled. "I love New York. I would never want to live there, but it's nice to visit." He looked up at her with a small smile. "What brought you to Charming?"

"Needed a change of scenery," he mumbled. He looked up at her with innocent eyes. "Are you really a mercenary?"

She gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Uh, yeah, I am."

"You don't look like one."

"Is it because I have tits?" she laughed. Juice shifted uncomfortably. She sighed. If she was trying to calm him down, she wasn't doing a good job. There was a reason she worked alone. "No one expects someone like me to come after them. I'm the last person they see coming."

"I get it," he nodded. If he had met her on the streets, he never would expect her to be a gun for hire.

Ophelia leaned forward to get a better look out the window. "Well, look what we have here," she said as lights came into view. "Looks like Rooster was telling the truth."

"You didn't think he was?"

"They always tell me the truth. One way or another," she said, flashing him a smile.

Ophelia slowed the car down as they approached the lights. The closer they got the better they could make out the cabin and everything surrounding it. It was a small cabin that looked like it had been there over a hundred years. There was at least a dozen bikes parked out front along with a van and SAMCRO's stolen cargo truck.

"The other charter is here," she whispered as she stopped in front of the cabin. Several guys came out as they heard the car. "Pretend we're fighting. I'll get out to ask for directions. You text the guys and tell them we're in place."

"But…" Juice started. Happy would have his balls if something happened to her. He had told him as much before he had gotten into the car with Ophelia.

She shot him a look. "Just let the others know," she hissed.

Ophelia got out of the car and made her way towards the men. She tried to make herself look as innocent as possible. "People. Thank god," she sighed once she got closer. She twirled her hair around her finger and stuck her hip out for added effect. "I think I'm lost."

The three men stopped in front of her and looked her over. All of them were wearing Devil's Horsemen kuttes, and they were the definition of one percenters. Any normal person should be scared shitless staring down men like these, but this was a usual Tuesday for Ophelia.

"Can we help you?" one of them asked.

"My boyfriend didn't want to ask for directions, and got us fucking lost in the middle of nowhere," she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. She walked to the one in front. She dragged her fingers down the front of his kutte. "Luckily for you, he won't be my boyfriend much longer." She looked up at him through her long eyelashes. "Maybe you can show me the right way."

"Hey!" All three men turned towards the cabin. Another man stood in the doorway. "Get them out of here!"

The one in front of Ophelia grabbed her arms. "Sorry, honey. Maybe another time," he said as he pushed her to the car.

Juice jumped out of the car. "Hey, get your hands off of her!" he yelled.

Both the other guys pulled out their guns and pointed them at Juice. "Just take your girl and get out of here, and we won't have any problems," one of them said.

Suddenly, there was two vehicles coming in the either direction. Ophelia silently thanked Jax for his perfect timing. Since the man holding her was distracted, she was able to get her dagger in one hand and her pistol in the other. She moved quickly. The man holding her hadn't even seen it coming when she plunged her dagger into his neck. His hand went to the wound on his neck, and he looked down at her with wide eyes. The colored drained from his face; then, he dropped to the ground. Without hesitating, she shot the other two men.

They had barely dropped to the ground as Ophelia ran to Juice and pulled him to cover behind the car. She peeked through the glass of the car to see the rest of the Horsemen streaming out of the cabin. Thankfully, by this time, SAMCRO had come in guns blazing as well. Both sides were putting out heavy fire. Ophelia could see that none of SAMCRO would be able to safely get to their cargo truck. She looked to Juice who looked like he was about to be sick. She couldn't just leave him there, but she also knew that he wouldn't be much use getting to the truck.

"Juice," she said shaking him. He didn't look up from his hands. "Goddamn it, Juice! You will pull yourself together or you will die!" He finally looked at her. "Get to the van now!" she commanded. That seemed to knock some sense into him. He shook himself off and ran to the van.

Ophelia took a deep breath as she leaned against the car. She counted to five and then ran to the cargo truck. She jumped up to the driver's seat. She kept her head down as she searched for keys. The bullets hadn't stopped flying; so when the passenger door opened, Ophelia immediately had her gun up ready to shoot.

"Jesus Christ, Hap," she muttered. She put her gun down. "You don't happen to have the keys, do you?" He shook his head as he climbed into the truck. "I guess I'll just have to do it the hard way." She reached up under the dash for the wires.

"Hurry up, Love," Happy grumbled before shooting as several Horsemen that were advancing on the truck.

"You know, people are going to think something's going on between us if you keep calling me Love," she mumbled as she struggled to connect the right wires.

"Who gives a shit," he said, glancing to her.

She smirked at him. Finally, the engine roared to life. "Hang on!" she yelled before stepping on the gas. The wheels threw gravel as they sped forward. She turned off the headlights in hopes that no one would be able to follow them. Seeing that they had gotten the truck, the rest of SAMCRO hightailed it out of there too going in the opposite direction.

"You better not kill me," Happy said, watching her skillfully navigate down the dark road.

"What? You don't trust me?" she asked grinning.

"I trust you with my life," he said seriously.

Ophelia didn't slow down until they had driven down the highway for several miles. They didn't have a lot of time until they were suppose to bring the guns to the Mayans, and she wanted to put as much space between them and that cabin as quickly as possible.

After realizing that no one was following them, Happy spoke up. "When you gonna tell the club who you really are?"

She glanced over to him before returning her attention back to the road. "I'm not sure if I'm going to."

"You helped the club today. We're gonna need you to help finish this."

She rolled her eyes. "I only came because you asked, and I know you didn't really need my help," she said pointedly.

"Why did you come then?" he questioned. Although he already knew the answer even if she didn't.

She tightened her grip on the steering wheel. She noticed then the blood on her hands. It was from when she had stabbed the guy back at the cabin. She had so much blood on her hands. Literally and Figuratively. "Look, just because JT and my dad had it all planned out for Jax and I to end up together and running the club, it doesn't mean shit now," she said. She took a deep breath. "A lot of time and shit has happened since those two were even alive."

Happy opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the shrill sound of his burner ringing. He glared at her as he answered. "Yeah?"

"Did you have any problems?" Jax's voice came from the other end of the line.

"No," Hap said firmly.

"Do you have anyone tailing you?" Jax asked.

"Don't think so."

"Okay," Jax sighed in relief. "Meet us down at the docks for the drop. Take the long way through the city incase someone is following."

"You got it, Prez," Hap said before snapping his phone shut. He looked over to Ophelia. "Head to the shipping yard in Oakland."

"No problem, boss," she mumbled, thankful that he decided to drop the subject.

* * *

They made it to the shipping yard without incident. With the amount of sudden turns and backtracking they had done, there was no way anyone could still be following them. Jax, Chibs, and Tig were leaning against their bikes waiting as the truck came to a stop. Ophelia and Happy jumped out of the truck. Ophelia hung back as Happy hugged his brothers. Then they all looked to Ophelia.

"That was some pretty crazy shit," Jax said smirking.

She crossed her arms and leaned back against the truck.

"I think ya even scared the shit out of poor Juicey," Chibs chuckled.

She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh that?" she smirked. "That was just a normal Tuesday night for me."

Jax looked to Happy in question, but he just shrugged. "Where did you learn that shit?" he asked Ophelia.

"Learn what?" she teased. "How to shoot straight and not hesitate?"

Happy snorted and Jax's smile faded.

"I like her," Tig said grinning.

The rumble of Harleys filled the air causing a halt in the conversation. A half of dozen Mayans came around the corner. Alvarez was riding front and center with the others flanking him. They stopped in front of SAMCRO. Alvarez never took his eyes off of Ophelia as he walked towards Jax. He shook Jax's hand, looking away from Ophelia for only a moment.

"When did SAMCRO start hiring mercenaries?" Alvarez asked nodding his head towards Ophelia. She was leaning against the truck watching the exchange.

"You know her?" Jax asked, furrowing his brows.

Alvarez's eyes went dark. "She's a Death Dealer, Teller," he spat. "They call her Lilith."

Jax licked his lips as he took in this information, but he decided now was not the time to question her loyalties. "She's a friend of the club. Someone jacked the shipment the other night. She helped us get it back," he explained.

Alvarez searched Jax's face for any signs he was lying. He looked to Ophelia, still unsure of the situation. "Fine," he muttered.

"Good," Jax said forcing a smile. "We still good for the next shipment?"

Alvarez nodded. "We'll do the usual cash drop next week."

Jax patted him on the shoulder. "Sounds good, brother." He along with Chibs, Tig and Hap went back to their bikes. Hap motioned for Ophelia to come over while the Mayans unloaded the truck.

"Why does Alvarez know you?" Happy questioned her.

She stared at him for a moment deciding on whether or not she should tell him. "I did a job for the cartel last year, and the Mayans were involved."

"You're with the cartel?" Chibs accused.

"I'm not with anyone," she said calmly. "People pay me to a get a job done. I do the job, and then move on."

"Who says you won't go to the Horsemen for the right price?" Tig asked pointing his finger at her.

She crossed her arms. "Happy is my family; you are his. Which means I'll do whatever I can to help you guys."

All of them stared at her. Jax, Chibs, and Tig trying to decide if they could trust her; while Happy looked at her like he was proud of her. They only stopped staring when the Mayans finished unloading the truck.

Jax looked at Happy. "Take the truck back to the warehouse. Go home; get cleaned up. We have church at 8 tonight."

Happy gave a quick nod. He grabbed Ophelia's arm and dragged her back to the truck. Once Happy and Ophelia were in the truck and driving away, Jax turned to Chibs.

"Get Juice to find out everything he can about her. I want to know everything there is about Ophelia Loveless," he said, watching the truck drive away.

Chibs nodded his head and then flipped open his phone, dialing Juice's number.

Jax climbed onto his Harley as he strapped on his helmet. The club couldn't afford to have someone that they didn't know anything about knowing all of their business. Even if Happy trusted her, mercenaries could turn if offered the right price. He needed to find out everything he could about her.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So here you go... Would love to hear what you think. The next chapter is going to have a flashback to how Ophelia and Happy met.

I am planning on updating at least once a week for the month of May. I want to give you as many chapters as I can before my life gets crazy this summer. (Yay for moving across the country.)


	4. Chapter 3

**Trigger Warning: Sexual Assault**

* * *

Once Ophelia and Happy got back to the warehouse, she went to check up on Rooster and make sure nobody had killed him yet. She had a feeling they were going to need him again before this whole thing was over. They had moved Rooster from being to duct taped to a chair and was now keeping him locked in a small room in the back of the warehouse.

When she entered the room, he looked up from his spot in the corner. "How many did you kill?" he asked.

She sat down in front of him. She was glad to see that his face was looking better. "I killed three, but I didn't stick around to count bodies," she said as she opened up her bag to get him water and some food.

"Good," he muttered as he took the water from her.

"Good?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows. "These guys were your brothers. Your family. You're turning on them awfully fast."

He glared at her. "You said it yourself. They left me for dead," he said. "You've been nicer to me than any of them ever were anyways."

She smiled as she stood up and start to leave. "I'll bring you some real food tomorrow."

"A beer would be nice," he called after her.

She wasn't sure what they were going to do with him. They couldn't keep him locked in their warehouse for the rest of his life. She didn't know if SAMCRO would ever trust him enough to let him go. He had turned traitor to his own club after all, but she didn't know if she could let them kill him either. Charming was making her go soft.

After telling Ratboy to not kill Rooster, Happy took her back to his place. When she walked through the door, she realized that Happy hadn't changed a bit since leaving Tacoma. The apartment only had the bare necessities. A small couch sat against the wall and a tiny TV sat on the opposite wall. Everything was clean and nothing was out of place.

"You know the rules," Hap said as he hung up his kutte by the door. "Don't make a mess and we won't have any problems."

"Glad some things haven't changed," she mumbled. "Are you still reusing condoms too?"

He shot her a glare before sulking back to his bedroom. She set her stuff down in the corner and then collapsed down onto the couch. Her exhaustion had finally knocked her off her feet. It had been over two days since she had gotten any sleep. She tried her best to get comfortable on the small couch, but even with her shorter frame, her feet still hung off the end. She stared up at the ceiling, praying to sleep the day away. As she laid there, her thoughts drifted to the day she first met Happy.

* * *

 **October 14, 1994**

Birthdays are meant to be spent with friends and family. You're suppose to be celebrate with people who care and love you. Ophelia had no friends in Tacoma and what little family she did have were too busy with bigger problems than worrying about her 17th birthday. So instead of wallowing in self pity, she did the next best thing she could think of.

The abandoned warehouse was packed with people. Everyone was trying to place bets on the current fights. Ophelia had been coming to these underground fights for years, but it wasn't until her dad had gone to prison six months ago that she started participating in the fights herself. She knew he would have a cow if he found out she was fighting, but he had promised that he wouldn't leave her and look how well that turned out.

"Hey, Franky," Ophelia called to the man organizing the fights.

"Lily," he grinned. "How you doing, baby girl?"

"You know what I've said about you calling me baby girl," she said crossing her arms over her chest. She looked around the crowded warehouse. "I want in on a fight."

"Now, you know how much I love having you fight," Franky said. "But you're late, and late people don't fight."

She raised an eyebrow. She produced a wad of cash from her pocket. She held it in front of his nose. "Get me in the ring and this is yours." Franky was a rat and money was his cheese. His eyes never left the cash as he thought about it. He reached for it, but she pulled it just out of his reach. "Get me in the ring," she repeated.

"Twenty minutes. Ring three," he said finally.

She smiled and tossed the cash into his hands. "Thanks, Franky," she said as she walked past him. She went to ring three to watch the fights before hers. She wasn't sure why she had started coming to these things to begin with, but now it was almost a habit. Every Friday night she found herself in the same spot. Sitting next to the ring; taping up her hands.

"You fightin'?" a voice asked from behind her.

"No, I just like taping up my hands for shits and giggles," she said without looking up from her hands. Once she was finished, she looked up to see two dark eyes watching her intently. If she hadn't grown up in the environment she had, she probably would have been terrified of him. He towered over her. He had a toothpick between his lips, and she could see a maze of tattoos up and down his arms.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm trying to figure out how a girl like you ended up in a place like this," he said watching her carefully.

"And what exactly do you know about a girl like me?" she asked.

He rolled the toothpick between his lips. "Just want to make sure you know what you're doing," he said shrugging.

The guy running the ring called her name signaling that it was her turn. She smirked at the dark eyed stranger. "Guess you'll just have to see for yourself," she said before climbing into the makeshift ring.

He watched her dance around her opponent. She let the guy get a couple good hits in to build up his confidence. Nothing like hitting a girl to build up confidence, but just as quickly, she tore it down. She moved quickly and flawlessly. She hit hard and with precision. Within five minutes of getting into the ring, she was standing over him in victory sporting only a split lip and the makings of a black eye.

"Where did you learn to fight like that?" the dark eyed stranger asked her as she got out of the ring and started gathering her things. He was impressed, and he was not easily impressed.

She smiled to herself. That was the question she got asked after almost every fight. "My dad taught me."

"He taught you well," he said. He watched her carefully. "I'm Happy."

"Are you telling me what you're feeling or your name?" she asked. The toothpick twitched in his mouth. She smiled and threw her bag over her shoulder. "Lily Loveless," she introduced herself. "I'll see you later, Happy." She pushed through the crowd in search of Franky to get her winnings.

With an extra $2,000 in her pocket, she made her way outside to her bike. Fights were always easy money for her. Nobody expected a girl to be able to take down a guy twice her size. She walked down a dark hallway that led outside. "Happy birthday to me. Happy birthday to me," she sang under her breath.

"Hey bitch!" someone yelled from behind her.

Assuming that it was just someone who had too much to drink, she kept walking. It wasn't until a hand gripped her forearm that she was forced to stop. She was pushed up against the wall. As she got over the shock, she realized it was the guy she had fought.

"You lost me all my money!" he spat in her face.

She shoved him off of her. "You lost all your money yourself." She started for the door but he grabbed her again.

"You owe me my money!" he yelled.

"I don't owe you shit!" she said venomously. "You're the one who let a girl beat the shit out of you."

"Fucking bitch!" he yelled slapping her across her face.

Her hand clutched her cheek. No one slapped Ophelia and walked away from it. She kicked him between his legs as hard as she could. He dropped down to his knees, holding himself. Then she roundhouse kicked the side of his face, sending him to the ground.

She bent over him. "You ever fucking touch me again and I'll make sure you'll never breathe again," she threatened. She stood up and straightened out her clothes. She tried to go for the door again, but two sets of hands grabbed her. They pushed her up against the wall.

"Find the money!" the guy on the floor yelled.

They searched her pockets, groping her as they went. She struggled against them, but it only made it worse. Their hands went up her shirt and down her pants.

"Get off me!" she cried.

"You like it, don't you?" the one with his hands down her pants said in her ear. "You're wet and ready for me, aren't you?"

Tears were falling down her cheeks. She needed it to stop. Suddenly, the two men were ripped off of her. She slid down the wall to the floor, wrapping her arms around herself. She watched as all three of her attackers were beaten to a bloody mess.

Once he was finished with them, her savior helped her to his feet. She looked up to his face; his dark eyes full of concern.

"Are you hurt?" Happy asked hoarsely.

She quickly wiped the tears away. "I'll be fine," she said, trying to convince herself.

He gently took her face in his hands and forced him to look at him. "Did they touch you?"

She brushed his hand away. "I said I'm fine," she said sternly. She looked down at herself. She was a mess. She was dirty and her shirt was ripped. "I can't go home like this," she muttered to herself. If she went home like this, they were never going to let her go anywhere again.

"I live right around the corner," Happy said, causing her to look at him. "You can clean up before you go home."

She nodded slowly. "Okay," she mumbled. She knew this could be a terrible idea. She didn't know him. He saved her life, and she didn't see another option.

"You okay walking?" he asked as he slipped off his sweatshirt and put it around her shoulders.

She nodded, but it didn't seem enough to convince him because he put his arm around her to steady her. He walked with her outside. The chilly air outside suddenly made everything that had just happened so much more real to her. She was already fucked up. Mommy took off when she was a kid. Daddy's in prison. Now add sexual assault to the mix, and it makes her even more of a hopeless case.

When she went into Happy's apartment, it was nothing like she expected. She expected beer bottles and ashtrays everywhere and that distinct bachelor pad smell. Happy's place though was clean. There was nothing out of place, and it smelt like clean laundry.

"The bathroom is right there if you want to shower," he said pointing towards it. "I can try to find some clothes if you want."

"I have clothes in my bag," she said numbly. She went into the bathroom but stopped at the door. She turned back to Happy. "Thank you."

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly. "You're welcome."

She turned the water as hot as she should get it, hoping to burn away the feeling of their hands on her. She scrubbed at her skin with Happy's soap until it turned raw. It was only after the water turned cold did she give up.

She took her time getting dressed. Her back was sore from being shoved against the wall. When she finally looked in the mirror, she looked even worse than she expected. Her lip was split open and there was a large cut across her cheek. Both of her eyes were starting to turn purple. She looked like she had been to hell and back. In reality, she had been to hell. Now she just had crawl back out.

When she finally emerged from the bathroom, she almost tripped over Happy's feet. He was sitting on the floor across from the door.

He looked up at her. "I didn't want you to be alone," he explained.

She slid down the door frame to the floor. "I think I used all the hot water," she mumbled.

"It's okay," he said. He saw the cuts on her face needed to be taken care of. Silently, he got some antiseptic and bandages from the bathroom; then he sat down next to her. She didn't stop him as he moved towards her. He was careful as he cleaned the wounds on her face. He didn't want to cause her anymore pain. He was almost done when she suddenly started shaking with laughter. Unsure what was going on, he sat back waiting until she calmed down.

"I'm sorry," she said through her giggles. "I'm sure you think I'm crazy. I would think I'm crazy." She wiped away the tears that had formed from laughing. "It's my birthday, and of course I would find myself in this position. On the bathroom floor while the Tacoma Killer, of all people, cleans me up."

"How did you...?"

She shrugged. "I had a feeling, but when you beat the shit out of them, it kind of gave it away."

"Are you scared?" he asked, watching her carefully.

"No," she sighed, looking down at her hands. "I've seen much scarier things in my life. I would much rather be here than back in that hallway."

"They can't hurt you again." He had made sure of that.

She met his dark eyes. "Why are you helping me?"

"You remind me of someone," he said honestly. "Why do you fight?"

She took a deep breath. "I fight because that's the only time I can feel anything," she said gripping the hem of his sweatshirt that she was still wearing.

Right then, he saw a glimpse of the girl that she carefully hid from the world. He realized she was just like he was before he got on the path that led him to becoming who he was today. In that moment, he decided he was going to do whatever he could to protect her from becoming what he was.

* * *

 **Present Day**

She was woken up by Happy violently shaking her. His dark eyes stared at her as he towered over her.

"You snore," he commented before shoving a cup of coffee in her face.

She sat up and tried to stretch out the kinks that had formed while sleeping on the small couch. She accepted the coffee from Happy. She had no idea how long she had slept for. It was still light outside. So hopefully it had just been the afternoon and not several days.

"You hungry?" he asked.

Her stomach let out a involuntary growl. "Starving."

"I ordered pizza. We have to be at the clubhouse soon."

"Pizza," she said in disbelief. "I thought that was part of your unnecessary spending?"

He rolled his eyes and walked back to the kitchen. "Take a shower," he called to her. "You look like shit."

"Yeah, I feel like shit," she mumbled before finding herself in Happy's bathroom once again.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

We got some Ophelia before she becomes a mercenary and Happy saving the day...

Thank you so much for those of you who have left reviews and have followed and favorited. I never thought I would get this much feedback in this short of time.


	5. Chapter 4

Jax sat at the bar nursing a beer. He had gotten to the clubhouse an hour before church was suppose to start in hopes that Juice had found something on Ophelia. When he had arrived, Chucky had told him that Juice was working in his dorm and asked not to be disturbed. Jax was tempted to go see for himself if Juice had found anything, but he knew how Juice could get when he was searching for information. So for now, Jax waited.

"Hey," Opie said as he took the stool next to Jax. Jax lifted his beer in acknowledgement. "Get any sleep?"

"Some. Thomas decided that he was going to be a daddy's boy today." Jax smiled at the memory of his youngest son clinging to him with all of his might.

"And by the time you see him next, he'll want nothing to do with you." Opie signaled the croweater behind the bar for a beer. "Kenny did the same thing before I went away." A beer was placed in front of him, and he took a sip. "So this Ophelia chick is something."

Jax snorted. "That's one way to put it." He looked to his best friend. "Alvarez knew her, and he almost seemed scared of her."

"Well, I think everyone is kind of scared of her; and from what I saw last night, they have good reason to be." He took another sip of his beer. He started peeling the label off the bottle. "Something's familiar about her though…"

Jax had to agree with him. Since Ophelia first showed up, he felt like he knew her from somewhere. Maybe he had run into her while doing something for the club.

"Jax," Juice said, appearing at his President's side. He raised a folder in his hands to show Jax that he had found something about Ophelia.

He nodded. He finished his beer before heading into chapel. Juice followed him and shut the doors while Jax took a seat at the head of the table. "What did you find?"

Juice fidgeted with the folder. "You gotta understand I searched everywhere I could for Ophelia Loveless."

Jax's shoulders dropped in defeat. "You didn't find anything?"

Juice opened the folder up on the table. He pushed a piece of paper with a copy of a driver's license towards Jax. "An Arizona driver's license, and that's it. No birth certificate, social security number, arrest record. Nothing. She doesn't exist. Ophelia Loveless has to be an alias."

"Shit," Jax muttered, leaning back in his chair.

"There is something else," Juice said timidly. "You said Alvarez called her a Death Dealer?"

"Yeah," he nodded.

"There wasn't much I could about them either, but there are conspiracy theories that it was a Death Dealer that killed JFK," Juice said, his eyes lighting up. This had been some of the most exciting background search he had done for the club. "These guys are big time, Jax. For the right price they'll do anything you want. If she really is a Death Dealer, she could be here pretending to be helping us but secretly working for the Horsemen."

Jax stayed silent. He knew practically nothing about Ophelia except that she was a mercenary and was extremely close with Happy. Her relationship with Happy was one of the strangest things he had seen. He had never seen Happy smile like he did around Ophelia except when it involved killing someone. Having Happy's trust meant a lot, but Jax still was unsure if Ophelia was good for the club.

A knock on the chapel doors broke Jax from his thoughts. Chibs poked his head into the room.

"Everyone's here," Chibs announced.

Jax nodded. "Alright. Get everyone in here." Chibs nodded and ducked out to get everyone. Jax looked to Juice and motioned to the folder. "This stays between us."

"No problem," Juice muttered as he took his seat at the table.

The rest of the guys started to filing in to take their respective spots. Once everyone was in their seats, Jax looked up to see Ophelia standing in the doorway. She didn't know if she was allowed to enter. She knew the importance of the room and what an honor it was to sit at the table.

"You can come in," Jax told her. "You've helped us a lot already."

Ophelia took a deep breath and stepped into the room. She sat down in one of the chairs along the wall. The furthest she could get away from the reaper carving in the table.

"I want to tell you all what a great job each and everyone of you did last night. We couldn't have done it without any of you," Jax said as he looked around the table. The entire erupted in cheers and banging their fists on the table. He smiled as he waited until they had settled down. "As great as you all were, things wouldn't have gone as smoothly if it hadn't been for Ophelia."

She shifted uncomfortably as everyone looked her way. "Yeah, no kidding. You would've gotten yourselves killed."

No one said anything. She was pretty sure she had just offended at least half of the table, but Happy was smirking at her. So it couldn't have been that bad. Finally, the corners of Jax's mouth turned up.

"You're probably right," he smirked. "You're the professional anyways."

Ophelia pursed her lips. She couldn't let Jax Teller get to her. She was better than that. "I guess you can call me a professional. But if you don't want my help, I can leave right now."

"No one asked for you to come," Tig spoke up.

She leaned forward in her seat and glared at Tig. "I don't have to take crap from any of you. I do not have to be here." She stood and started for the door.

"Ophelia," Jax called to her. She stopped with her hand from the door and reluctantly turned around. "We appreciate you helping us, and your insight about the Devil's Horsemen would be useful. However, none of us know you except for Happy. So it's a little hard to trust you."

She leaned back against the door. She let out a sigh and looked to Happy. Like usual, he didn't show any emotion. She pursed her lips and looked back to Jax. "The Horsemen are getting ready for war." A murmur went around the table.

"What?" Jax asked, hoping she would clarify.

"A few of my contacts in Texas called me today," she glanced around the table. "The Horsemen want our blood."

"Ours? You're not part of this," Chibs grumbled.

She raised an eyebrow. "You're kidding, right?" she asked. "I was there last night just like the rest of you. I killed three of their patched members. They'll want me dead too."

"Do you know when they're coming?" Opie asked.

She shook her head. "No, but I have every contact of mine between here and Texas keeping an eye out to let me know when they're coming."

"Do you think they'll bring the war to Charming?" Bobby asked.

She chewed on the inside of her cheek. "I'm not sure," she sighed. "They're not going to want to bring attention that they're in California now, but… they're not gonna let this go. They started this, and they're gonna finish it."

Ophelia believed wholeheartedly that people were gonna die if they weren't smart about this, and even if she they didn't know it yet, these guys were family.

"If you decide to face them head on, I won't leave until it's finished." She looked around the table. "I'll leave you to talk through it." She left the chapel and shut the door behind her. She grabbed a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar before heading outside to the picnic tables.

If she was going to get them to trust her, she was going to have to tell them the truth about who she was. She just wasn't sure how they were going to take it.

* * *

Ophelia was happily buzzed as she lounge on one of the tables under the night sky. If she looked carefully, she could see the twinkle of stars above her. She always liked watching the stars. It started when her dad would take her away from all the city lights and they would just stare up at the sky. They would make up names for the constellations since they didn't know real names for them or they would name stars after people they cared for. She was half tempted to leave TM and all the problems of SAMCRO to go find the stars.

She only looked away from the stars above her when a black SUV pulled into the lot. She immediately recognized the woman that got out as the matriarch of SAMCRO. Her black heels clicked against the pavement as she walked towards the clubhouse. She stopped when she saw Ophelia on the picnic table.

She looked Ophelia over. "Can I help you, sweetheart?"

"Nope. Just waiting for the boys to finish."

"You look familiar," Gemma said, crossing her arms.

"Just rolled into town yesterday," she answered vaguely.

Gemma narrowed her eyes, clearly not satisfied with her answer. She turned and started for the clubhouse in search of someone to tell her who the mystery girl was.

It wasn't that much longer when a few of the guys started to come outside, signaling that church was over. They mostly ignored her except for Chibs.

He walked over to her. "Jackie boy wants to talk to ya."

She nodded and then hopped off the table. She followed Chibs inside. Chibs joined Happy, Bobby, and Opie who were sitting at the bar. The doors to the chapel were open and she could she Jax still sitting at the head of the table. She could also hear Gemma demanding answers from Jax.

"Who's the tart, Jackson?" she questioned. "Is she some sweetbutt who followed you home from a run? Don't tell me you got that little slut pregnant."

"It's none of your business who she is," Jax sighed.

"Of course it's my business when someone tries to tear my family apart."

Ophelia stepped forward so they could see her. Gemma only glared at her while Jax sent her an apologetic look. "You would probably like me better if I was just a slut instead of who I really am."

Gemma started towards her, but Jax stopped her. "Go home, Mom."

"Jax..."

"Go home."

She looked between Jax and Ophelia. Finally, she huffed and stormed out of the chapel.

"Well, ain't she just lovely," she mumbled.

Jax sighed. "I'm sorry. She can be a bit much sometimes."

"From what Happy as told me, it's more than just sometimes."

He gave her a small smile, but it quickly disappeared. He pulled out the folder that Juice had given him earlier. "We need to talk about some things."

Ophelia moved to shut the chapel doors and then sat down in Happy's chair. "You know, if you're gonna run background checks on me, it's a whole lot easier to just ask me. I'm actually a little offended you didn't remember to begin with."

He looked at her carefully. "We've met before?" he asked, trying to wrack his brain where he knew her from.

"You can say that," she laughed. She leaned forwards in her seat. "You were my best friend since we could walk. You were the first one to call me Leela because you couldn't pronounce Ophelia. I broke your nose because you tried to kiss me when we were 10. You, me, and Opie raised hell."

He furrowed his brow as recognition spread across his face. "Leela?"

"The one and only," she sighed.

"Holy shit," he muttered in amazement. Then his smile faded. "Why did you lie about who you were?"

She looked at her hands. "I didn't lie…"

"You didn't tell the truth," he pointed out. "You came here pretending you didn't know any of us."

"I wasn't planning on sticking around," she said. Before he could say anything else, she held up her hand. "There's a lot of history here I didn't want to stir up, but it's kinda late for that now."

"History? What the hell you talkin' about?" he asked. "We were goddamn family, Leela."

"Oh yeah? Then where were you when my dad went away? Or when he died? You only came to the funeral because you were prospecting, and Clay made you." she said, her voice raising. "Oh yeah, you were dick deep in Tara's pussy. Then all she did was leave your ass in Charming."

Jax stared at her. Then he smiled. She was still the same girl he knew when he was a kid. The girl who would tell it to you straight. "Shit, I've missed you, Leela."

"I've missed you too, Jax," she sighed. "I'm sorry. I've lied to you. You haven't seen me since we were 17. You don't know who I am. You have no reason to trust me."

He reached for her hand. "Hey, I trust you, but that doesn't mean I don't want to know why you haven't shown your face in Charming for the last twenty years. "

She sighed and looked down at her hands. "I can't tell you…" He opened his mouth to say something, but she shot him a look to silence him. "I can't tell you right now. It's not the right time."

"But you will tell me?"

She nodded. "Eventually."

He sat back and looked her over. He couldn't believe she had been his Leela this whole time. Only she wasn't his Leela anymore. She had always been more dangerous than the other girls, but from what he saw her do to the Horsemen, she down right deadly. "How did you become a…"

"Mercenary?" she offered.

He nodded. "Alvarez called you a Death Dealer. What the hell is that?"

She took a deep breath. "I can't tell you."

He ran his hand through his hair. "Jesus, Leela, is there anything you can tell me?" he questioned. "Juice found some things about them."

"That it was supposedly a Death Dealer that killed JFK?" she asked, smiling slightly. That rumor had been around since JFK had died in the first place. She could see that he wasn't gonna let her leave without an explanation. "Death Dealers are elite contract killers that have supposedly been around since biblical times."

"You had so much going for you. You are one of the smartest people I know. You could have been anything you wanted," he pleaded with her.

"Really? Because I've done what I had to do to survive" she said raising her eyebrows. "My dad was a founder of an outlaw biker club. I grew up around asshole criminal bikers. What I wanted was to be able to sit at this table; I wanted to wear the patch."

"If anyone could patch in, it would be you," he argued. Growing up, he fully believed that someday, when he took his spot at the head of the table, he would have Opie on his left and Leela on his right.

She snorted. "That's bullshit, and you know it. Clay would've never let me anywhere near the club after JT and Isaiah died." The more she talked, the more she relaxed. Jax had been one of her best friends growing up. Sure, she had grown up in Tacoma while he was in Charming, but they saw each other almost every weekend because of club business.

"It didn't help that you dropped off the map after your dad died," Jax pointed out.

"And you buried yourself in booze and pussy after yours died," she said pointedly.

Jax chuckled and held up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay. Both of us are messed up in the head."

"That's the understatement of the year," she mumbled.

"Look, you might not be able to tell me why you hate Charming or who the hell Death Dealers are, but there is one thing I have to know," he said. She raised her eyebrow. "Are you and Happy like…"

"Come on, Jackson," she teased, suppressing a grin. "We're both adults. Just say it."

He glared at her. "Are you and Happy together?"

"Would you be jealous if we were?" Jax rolled his eyes. "Nah, Hap and I are friends, and he's old enough to be my dad anyways."

He almost let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure if he could handle Leela being with the Tacoma Killer on top of everything else. "You could have some daddy issues I don't know about," he chuckled.

"Daddy issues?" she questioned, raising her eyebrows. "What about your mommy issues? Did you ever get over those?"

"Shut up," he muttered.

There was a knock at the door and it opened to reveal Bobby. "Sheriffs just pulled up."

"Shit, what do they want?" Jax mumbled. He stood up and started for the door, but Ophelia stopped him.

"I want this, who I really am, to stay between us," she told him quickly. "I will get up in front of everyone tomorrow and tell them who I am. Right now, I just want to be with my best friend again and not deal with all the questions."

He smiled. "Let's find out what the fuzz want."

She walked behind Jax as they went outside to meet with the sheriffs. There was two cop cars parked in the middle of the lot. Ophelia stood next to Jax as Sheriff Roosevelt got out.

"I didn't expect to have the whole club here for my little visit," Roosevelt said looking at all the members of the club. His eyes stayed on Ophelia a little longer than necessary.

"What can I help you with, Sheriff?" Jax asked, stepping between Roosevelt and Ophelia.

Roosevelt narrowed his eyes at Jax. "I was wondering if any of you know anything about a shoot out that happened up on the state land off of Highway 18."

"Was it the cowboys and the Indians?" Tig asked.

Sheriff Roosevelt forced a smile. "Actually, it was another MC." He walked towards Jax. "If you bring any bodies to Charming, I will make it my life's mission that none of you see the light of day ever again."

"Wouldn't expect anything else," Jax grinned.

Roosevelt looked around the lot once more; his eyes going to Ophelia once more before getting back into his car. They all made sure the sheriffs were gone before doing anything else.

Jax turned back to his men. "Roosevelt is gonna have guys watching our every move. As of right now, all of you are outstanding citizens. The last thing we need is any of you getting arrested."

"I can make a few calls," Ophelia spoke up. "See if he actually has anything against or if he's just fishing."

"Calls to who?" Chibs questioned.

She sighed. "I have a few contacts that would be able find out what's going on." None of these guys trusted her. The worse part is she knew that it wasn't going to get easier once she told them the truth.

Chibs let out a sigh of discontent and went back into the clubhouse along with the rest of the men.

Jax put his arm around Leela's shoulder and pulled her to his chest. "Let me buy you a beer?"

"Buy?" she laughed. "I know how the clubhouse bar works. You've never had to buy a beer in your life."

He laughed too and kissed her cheek. "Fair enough."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Will Jax be able to trust Ophelia now that he knows who she is? Or will he not be able to get past the fact that she is keeping stuff from him?

Hope you enjoyed it. Would love to hear what you think.


	6. Chapter 5

She had been sitting outside of Jax's house for the last half an hour. She was suppose to be inside having breakfast with Jax and his family, but she couldn't bring herself to get off her bike. She couldn't get past the manicured lawn with toys scattered across it and the soccer mom SUV sitting in the driveway. It almost looked like someone who worked 9 to 5 lived there if it wasn't for the Dyna sitting in the driveway.

"You gonna sit out here forever?" Jax said as he walked down the driveway towards her. "You're gonna freak out the neighbors."

"Sorry," she said, forcing a smile.

He furrowed his brows. "What's wrong?"

She chewed on her lip. "I can't stop thinking if this is what my life would look like if things hadn't gone to shit."

Jax stuffed his hands in his pockets. "I know that I don't really know you now, but the Leela I grew up with would have hated living like this."

"I would've said the same about you."

It was his turn to force a smile. "Come on, I want you to meet my boys."

She reluctantly got off her bike and followed him inside. It was even stranger for her as she stepped through the door. It was homey and the woman's touch was obvious. They went through the house to the kitchen. Jax went over to the table where Tara and his two boys sat.

"Daddy, who's that?" Abel asked, eyeing Leela.

Jax knelt down next to Abel. "That is Leela. She was my best friend when we were little like you are."

"You were never little, Daddy," Abel giggled like that was the strangest thing in the world.

Leela smiled as Jax tickled Abel. It was safe to say that Jax's genes were the strongest since both little boys looked exactly like him. Even in their mannerisms, they were like mini versions of Jax.

"Leela, this is Tara," Jax introduced as he took Thomas from Tara's arms.

"Nice to meet the woman who was finally able to tame his wild ways," Leela said, holding out her hand for her to shake.

Tara stared at her hand before eventually shaking it. "Don't think anyone will ever tame Jax Teller," she said wearily. "Finish your breakfast, Abel." She stood up to take her plate to the sink.

Leela looked to Jax in question who only shrugged in return. There was obvious tension between Jax and Tara. She just hoped that she wasn't going to get in the middle of it.

She sat down next to Abel. "Do you know how your dad grew up to be so big?" She glanced across the table to Jax.

"How?" Abel giggled.

"By eating all of his food," she said as she made a funny face causing Abel to giggle even harder. He started to eat everything on his plate. "Tara, can I help you with anything?"

"Uh…" Tara looked surprised by Leela's question. "I'm good. Thanks though. Can I get you anything?"

"Coffee would be great, but I can grab it myself." She didn't have a chance to get it herself because Tara set a cup full of coffee in front of her. "Oh, thanks…"

"Mhmm," Tara hummed. "So you're the Leela from Tacoma. Jax, Opie, and Donna used to talk about you a lot."

"Only the good things I hope." She sipped on her coffee.

"Jax told me you got away from the club."

Leela saw the question behind the statement. Tara wanted to know how she got away from the club. "Uh…" She narrowed her eyes at Jax. "I've never gotten away from the club. I left Charming behind, but SAMTAC is my home."

Tara shifted uncomfortably before eventually turning to start washing dishes. Jax kicked Leela's foot under the table and mouthed 'sorry' to her.

"You sure you don't want any food?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, I'm not much of a breakfast person," she shrugged. She glanced down to her watch on her wrist. "Besides, we should be going. Church starts soon."

He nodded. He stood up with Thomas in his arms. He kissed Abel on the head. "Be good for Mommy, okay?"

"Yes, Daddy," Abel said. He looked to Leela.

"I'll see you later, little man." She winked at him. Abel giggled and hid behind his hands.

Jax handed Thomas off to Tara. It didn't go unnoticed by Leela that Tara made sure not to touch Jax. Leela and Jax went outside to their bikes.

"So you wanna tell me what's going on between you and Tara?" she asked as he climbed onto his bike.

"You noticed that, huh?" he asked as he fastened his helmet.

"Kinda hard not to," she said, crossing her arms. "Whatever is going on between you two, I don't want to get in the middle of it, Jax. It's bad enough we have history."

"Tara wants me to get out of the club. She thinks I'm putting my sons in danger," he explained. "This war with the Horsemen isn't helping either."

She pursed her lips. "When Tara came back to Charming, were things good with the club? Were things quiet?"

"No, we were dealing with shit with basically everyone. It was pretty crazy."

"So she knew what she was getting into. She knew the club was your life. She knew that it wasn't going to be easy. If she thinks she can change who you are, there's an even bigger problem."

"I love her, Leela. So much that it hurts. I want to do whatever I can to make her happy, but I can't lose the club in the process," he said.

"You just need to figure out what's important."

"What would you do?" he asked.

She chuckled. "You're asking the girl who has never been in a healthy relationship in her life," she smiled. "But... I would do what I can to help the situation, but if she couldn't handle my life, I wouldn't look back."

He nodded thoughtfully. "It's good to have you back."

"Yeah, you say that now," she muttered under her breath.

* * *

After having the night to think about everything, the club had to vote on if they should wage war with the Horsemen. The plan was for Ophelia to get up and tell them who she really was before they voted. Jax had tried to convince her that everyone would be happy she was back. The ones that had known her as a young girl would probably have the hardest time trying to understand why she did what she did.

She had everything she wanted to say to all of them all planned out. Hopefully, what she had to say would help. She needed them all to trust her if they were going to make it through this war alive.

She sat at the bar in the clubhouse waiting for everyone to get there. Jax sat on one side while Happy sat quietly next to her. It helped calm her down knowing that no matter what happened she would at least have Hap by her side.

Then the front door to the clubhouse swung open. Clay walked in with Piney following behind. Ophelia looked to Jax in question. Neither Clay or Piney were allowed to vote anymore. Clay's hands had given out on him, and Piney's health was on the decline. Preventing both of them from riding, and if you can't ride, you can't vote.

"I asked them to come. They're First Nine, and I would like to have their opinions," Jax explained.

Clay looked met her eyes and suddenly her world started spinning. The entire reason why she had stayed away from Charming was only feet away from her. Her heart pounded in her ears. Her hands started to shake. She was losing herself to rage.

"Who's the girl?" Clay asked.

"You'll find out in church," Jax said as he stood to go into the chapel. Clay followed him, but he first looked back to Ophelia.

She felt a hand on her shoulder as she tried to steady her breathing. "You alright?" Happy whispered in her ear.

She slowly nodded her head. She couldn't let herself fall apart right now. "Yeah, I'm good." He looked at her carefully, and then finally accepted her answer. He got out up and went to take his spot at the table. She took a deep breath before going into the chapel as well. She sat down in the same chair as before.

"So who's the sweetbutt?" Clay asked once everyone was seated.

"Well…" Jax licked his lips as he looked to Leela. "I think she needs to explain to everyone who she is."

She tried to remember everything she had planned on saying, but it had all disappeared the moment she had seen Clay. All eyes were on her. She stood up and started to pace around the room. "I haven't been honest about who I am to all of who." Jax gave her an encouraging smile. "Some of you have met me before." She looked at Bobby, Tig, Chibs, Piney, and then finally her eyes landed on Clay. "In fact, I considered some of you my uncles." Reluctantly, her eyes left Clay and went to Opie. "Or my best friends." Everyone stayed quiet. "You don't know me as Ophelia Loveless, but as Leela Blackwell."

She looked around the room as everyone took in the information. Piney was smirking at her like he had known who she was from the moment he had seen her. Clay was looking like he had just seen a ghost. Bobby and Tig were staring at her in amazement. Opie looked like he was having a silent conversation with Jax. Hap was looking at her full of pride. Rat and Juice both looked as confused as ever. Chibs, however, looked different than all the rest of them; he looked angry.

"What's going on?" Juice asked, looking between Jax and Clay. "Who is she?"

"She is Tacoma royalty," Piney said, proudly.

Jax grinned at Leela. "For those of you who don't know, her father, Isaiah Blackwell, founded the Tacoma charter. She grew up in the club as much as me and Ope did."

"Where'd you disappear to, doll?" Tig asked. "We missed seeing you around after Isaiah died."

"More like you missed my ass," she teased, rolling her eyes.

"We all missed that ass," Bobby said.

"You're all very fucked up individuals," she laughed.

"Why didn't you tell us who you were from the beginning?" Chibs voiced the question everyone wanted to know. He didn't look her.

She chewed on her lip as she thought over her answer. "If I had told you who I was, none of you would have let me help. You would have just seen me as the seventeen year old girl that you saw at her father's funeral."

"And not the cold the cold bloody killer you are today?" Bobby said.

She shrugged her shoulders. "A lot of shit has happened." She let out a sigh. "I know you all have a lot of questions, and I will answer all of them eventually. But right now, we need to focus on the problem at hand. The Horsemen will be on your doorstep before you know it. I told the truth about who I am because there needs to be trust between us."

"I trust Leela with my life," Jax spoke up. "From what we saw her do the other night, we need her help."

"I second that," Happy said.

She felt a little bit better knowing that she had at least a few of them on her side. "Let me know what you decide." She slipped out the doors, and took a deep breath once she was out of sight from everyone. She hadn't expected to see Clay. She should've known better than to hope that she wouldn't run into him.

She walked outside needing a nicotine fix and to put some space between her and the past. She fumbled with her lighter as she tried to light her cigarette. She couldn't get it to light; she threw the lighter across the lot in frustration.

Gemma appeared next to her holding out her lighter. "Here you go, sweetheart."

"Thanks," she mumbled, taking the lighter from Gemma. She lit her cigarette and took a deep breath, immediately feeling calmer. As she handed the lighter back to Gemma, she looked over the older woman. She had a few more wrinkles since the last time she had seen her, but she was still the same old Gemma.

"You have Isaiah's eyes," Gemma said pointedly.

She let out a snort. "Nothing get's past you, does it?"

"Not usually," Gemma said, crossing her arms. "I always thought you would be a great old lady. You knew how the club worked. What was expected of you."

She rolled her eyes. Almost twenty years and Gemma was still singing the same tune. "Jesus, Gem, you still holding onto that?"

"You were suppose to be the one at his side to help the lead the club," Gemma said getting in Leela's face.

She resisted letting out a sigh. "You gotta let this shit go. It can't be healthy holding onto all of this." Her eyes went to the long scar that ran down her chest.

"Love!" Happy called from the doorway of the clubhouse.

Gemma watched Leela snub out her cigarette. "You hittin' that?"

"Jesus Christ, what is with everyone wanting to know my sex life?" she said, shaking her head. She followed Happy back into the clubhouse and into the chapel. No one would look her in to eyes except for Jax. His face didn't give anything away though. And she made sure not to look in Clay's direction.

Jax waited until Happy had taken his seat before starting. "If we're going to do this with as little of bloodshed as possible, we're going to need you," he said to her.

She took a deep breath. "So we're doing this?"

"We're doing this," Jax nodded.

"I'll start calling all the other charters," Bobby spoke up. "Let them know what's going on."

Jax nodded in agreement. "Prepare your families for a lock down. We might not have a lot of time before it's war." He brought the gavel down onto the table signaling that church was over.

Leela moved out of the way as everyone started filing out. Piney stopped in front of her. He placed his hand on her shoulder.

"It's good to have a Blackwell in Charming again," he grumbled before leaving.

After everyone left, Jax looked to Leela. "Am I doing the right thing? Or am I leading all of them to their graves?"

Pain clouded his eyes. She wondered if they had ended up together could she have helped ease the pain. She leaned back against the table and took a hold of his hand. She remembered the days between JT's death and his funeral, when she held his hand nonstop. How he wouldn't let go.

"If we hadn't gotten the guns back, your relationship with Mayans would've gone downhill and the Horsemen would've pushed you out," she said, her eyes not leaving his hand. "Now you have shown them that you will not go quietly." Finally, she brought her eyes up to his. "We have to fight if we want to keep everything for the club."

Someone cleared their throat from the door. Jax pulled his hand out of Leela's as he saw who it was.

"Tara," he breathed. He got up and pulled her into a hug. Tara's eyes never left Leela as she hugged Jax.

"I'm gonna make a few calls. See if I can find anything more about the Horsemen," Leela said, slipping past Jax and Tara.

She went outside to start making phone calls to hopefully find something about the Horsemen. She wasn't paying attention that there was hardly anyone in the clubhouse. So she was met by Bobby, Tig, and Chibs staring at her from one of the tables.

"Hey there, doll," Tig said.

"Hey, Tiggy," she smiled. Tig had always been one of her favorites. Mainly because he flirted with her relentlessly and what teenage girl didn't like being flirted with by someone older. She took the empty seat at the table across from Chibs, who still wasn't looking at her. She knew that if anyone had questions about how she spent the last twenty years, it would be these three.

"Why lie to us, kid?" Bobby asked, getting straight to the point.

She sighed. "I didn't lie. I actually told you more than I tell any of my other clients."

"We aren't clients! We were goddamn family!" Chibs said, standing up quickly. He then stormed off to the garage.

She stared down at her hands. She knew that her disappearing away from all things SAMCRO had hurt more than just Jax.

"So you've really gone mercenary?" Tig asked.

She looked up at him. "Yeah," she said forcing a smile. "The money is unbelievable."

"Really?" Bobby questioned.

She grinned. "You would never be able to afford me."

"How did you get into that?" Tig asked.

She chewed on her lip. "I was so broken that the only time I didn't was when I was breaking other people. And I got really good at it."

"You were kinda scary the other night," Bobby said pointedly.

"I wouldn't be good if I wasn't."

"It's good to have you back, kid. Even if not everyone sees it yet," Bobby said.

"Hell, most of us thought you were dead. Then out of nowhere you roll up all cozy with Happy. You're kinda surprising all of us," Tig said.

She laughed. "What's more surprising? That I'm still kicking, my job, or that I'm besties with Hap?"

Bobby and Tig shared a look. "Happy," they said together.

All of them started laughing. Suddenly, Leela's phone started ringing. She pulled it out and looked at the caller id. Unknown caller. She excused herself from Tig and Bobby to answer it.

"Do you think she'll stick around once we finish this?" Tig asked Bobby as they watched Leela talk on the phone.

"I don't know. I hope she does. God knows this club needs some fresh eyes," Bobby said. "But I think there's something she's not telling us."

"She's right, you know?" Tig said, turning to Bobby. "We wouldn't have let her help us if we had known who she was. I wouldn't have let her."

Bobby tapped his fingers on the table as he thought. "Yeah, she's not the same kid we knew."

Leela made her way back to them. She tossed her phone back and forth from each hand.

"What's up, doll?" Tig asked, noticing that something was bothering her.

"The Horsemen are coming. They will be here sometime this week."

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Hope you like it! Thank you so much to all of who have left comments. You rock my socks off!


	7. Chapter 6

"You sure this is all the guns you have?" Ophelia asked. "You don't have any hidden under floorboards or in mattresses?"

The club had brought together all of their guns in preparations for the impending war and had laid them all out on one of the pool tables in the clubhouse. There was mostly hunting rifles and shotguns; nothing that would be useful in their situation. With that aside, they did not have enough. They barely had enough to put in the hand of every club member.

"This is all we have," Jax said from beside her.

"It's gets even better," Bobby piped up from his spot at the bar. "We only have enough ammo for about half of 'em."

She looked at Jax in disbelief. "You serious? You are a sad excuse for a motorcycle club."

"Thanks," Jax muttered.

Ophelia chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to come up with a solution. "If I get you money, how quickly could you get an order from the Irish?"

"A week maybe."

She shook her head. "That's not fast enough. The Horsemen will be here before then."

"What do you suggest then?" Jax asked, folding his arms.

She hesitated for a moment. "I have a safe house in Arizona. I have enough guns and ammo that would tide us over til the Irish shipment gets here. I can get there and back within a day."

"Are you sure?" Jax asked.

"You need the protection, and I got the guns."

Jax shifted. They needed guns, but he didn't want to rely on Leela to fix his problems. "I don't want to be your charity case."

"What you talking about? You've been a charity case since we were kids," she retorted, playfully but then turned serious. "I have plenty of guns and more than enough money to last me the rest of my life. I want to help SAMCRO. It's the least I can do."

Jax licked his lips. "Okay, but I don't want you to go alone."

She rolled her eyes. "Really? We have to do this again? I don't need a goddamn babysitter."

"You will be going right towards the Horsemen," he argued.

"Who don't know who I am!"

"It doesn't matter. I'm not letting you go alone!"

She got right up in his face. "I have traveled all over the world by myself. I have gone face to face with people a hell of a lot scarier than the Horsemen, and I have more blood on my hands than you could ever imagine," she said menacingly. "I can handle it by myself."

"I'm the goddamn president, and you will listen to me!" he yelled.

She narrowed her eyes at him. She was tempted to punch him. No one ever yelled at her like that. She thought better of it though. She turned on heel, and then she stormed out of the clubhouse. She went over to the punching bag and hit a few times as hard as she could.

"Shit, I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that," Opie said from behind her.

She took a hold of the bag to stop it from swinging. She took a deep breath and turned around. "Hey, Op," she said sheepishly. She was better at controlling her temper than this, but being in Charming was stirring up a lot of shit.

"Hey, kid," he said as he sat down on one of the picnic tables. He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered her one.

She happily took one and sat down beside him. "I don't get why you call me kid. I'm older than you."

"You want me to call you shorty instead?"

Her smile faded. "You're a freaking giant. Everyone is shorter than you." He chuckled and then they both fell into an awkward silence. "Where you at with all this?" she asked finally. Since everyone had found out who she really was, she hadn't gotten a chance to talk to him.

He stared down at the ground and rubbed his hands together. "Things were finally settling down around here. Donna was accepting my role with the club. Everything was better, but that doesn't ever last around here." He looked up at her. "I'm glad you're here. The club needs your expertise. God knows Jax needs you. But you've been gone a long time. A lot has changed for everyone."

She took her cigarette from her mouth and exhaled. "I know things are different. I know I've come out of nowhere. But I'm not the same girl I was. I've had things happen to me that no one should have to experience. I've done things that no one should have to do." She looked down at her hands. "I'm not going to disappear again. I can't now that I'm back. I can't just pretend you don't exist."

Opie watched her for a minute before slinging his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. "You ever gonna tell us why you left in the first place?"

"I don't know," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "It was hard enough just telling you who I was."

He sat back so he could look her in the eyes. "Did someone in the club do something to you?" She shifted away from him. "Shit, Leela. What happened? Was it Clay?"

"It would tear the club apart, and we can't have that right now."

"Clay isn't even in the club anymore," he hissed. "Jax lets him sit in on votes out of respect but he doesn't even deserve that." He looked around to make sure no one could hear them. "Clay almost murdered my wife because he thought I snitched on the club."

She sighed. "I don't even have tangible proof."

"That's bullshit," he chuckled. "You never jumped to conclusions unless you had all the information."

She chewed on her lip. She needed to tell someone. Not even Happy knew what happened. Suddenly, she pushed herself away from Opie and stood up. "I can't. Not right now."

He watched her for a moment before finally accepting it. "Okay, Leela. Whatever you think is best."

Happy came out of the clubhouse and stood next to her. He looked between her and Opie. "Everything good?"

"Yeah, it's good," Ophelia said quickly. "What's up?"

"Jax got off the phone with the Irish. Five days and $75,000."

She nodded. "He tell you you'd get to come with me to Arizona?"

"He mentioned it," Hap said shortly.

She looked back to Opie. "I guess I'm in the doghouse."

"He'll get over it," he shrugged.

She smiled at Op. Jax had always been headstrong, but Opie was his voice of reason. She looked back to Hap. "You good to leave in an hour?"

He gave a short nod. "Do we need a truck?"

"Nah, I figured you could ride bitch with me and then drive my car back with the guns," she said flatly.

Happy glared at her. "Bitch," he muttered before heading inside the clubhouse.

"How the hell did you two end up together?" Opie asked once Hap had disappeared inside.

She laughed. "Do you remember how I use to street fight?" He nodded. "A few guys jumped me one night as I was leaving. Hap came out of nowhere and saved me. He beat the shit out of them," she explained. "He started coming to all my fights. He even started hanging around the clubhouse. I eventually talked him into prospecting."

Opie laughed in disbelief. "I should've known that you're the reason the Tacoma Killer got patched."

"Yeah," she smiled. "You know me. I attract all the deep dark broody men."

He sighed. "Well, you're in the right place for that."

She looked to Chibs who was working on his Harley in the garage. He was one broody man that she needed to talk to. She started walking towards him. She needed to figure out what was bothering him and try to fix it. She silently watched him for a few minutes as he worked.

"I see you're still good with a wrench," she said eventually.

He glanced over his shoulder and then went back to working. "Aye, always have been." He finished tightening a bolt and then started putting his tools away.

"So are you just going to ignore me for the rest of my life?" she asked as he worked with his back to her. "Come on, Chibs. We used to be friends. Can we at least talk about it?"

In a blink of an eye, Chibs was across the garage and in her face. "You wanna talk?" he questioned, his eyes narrowed. "You disappear off the face of the earth without a word. Then you show up pretending you don't know any of us. That you didn't have a past here. And now you expect me to be okay with this." His eyes darted between hers. "Expect me to forget how it felt to lose you."

His eyes pierced hers, She couldn't take the hurt that filled his eyes. Her eyes dropped down to the Vice President patch on his chest. She remember when he had just arrived in the States from Ireland and he was new to the club. A lot had changed since then.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

He stood there staring at her until he couldn't take it anymore. By the time she looked up, Chibs was gone. She hadn't realized how much her disappearance had hurt Chibs. It hadn't been her intention to hurt anyone.

* * *

After getting their things together, Hap and Leela found themselves on the road heading towards Bullhead City, Arizona. Her hands sat comfortably on Happy's hips as she sat behind him. As much as she loved riding her own Harley, there was something about hanging on and being able to watch the scenery fly by. It had been one of her favorite things ever since she was a little girl.

They finally pulled up in front of her house after a very long ride. She climbed off the back of his bike. Happy looked around as she took off her helmet and stretched her legs.

"When did you get this place?" Hap asked.

"About a year ago when I started working in Vegas more," she explained as she opened the garage door to allow Happy to push his bike inside. He parked it next to her black BMW. "Do you wanna grab some food before we start loading us? There's a diner a few blocks away that's pretty decent."

"Food would be good," he agreed.

With some disagreement from Happy, they took her BMW down to the diner. Hap started to get out of the car, but she stopped him. Something didn't feel right. All the parking lot lights were out.

"I think you should leave your kutte in the car," she said slowly. If something wasn't right, she didn't want to draw anymore attention to them.

"You see something?" he asked, looking around.

"Not yet."

Trusting her instincts, Hap shrugged off his kutte. It didn't do much good though because he was wearing a SAMCRO t-shirt. Both of them got out of the car and headed into the diner. There was only a few customers in the place. They took a booth in the back corner that gave them a clear view of the whole place. One of the waitresses came over to take their order.

"What can I get you?" she asked.

"Two coffees and two bacon cheeseburger," she said, ordering for Happy as well.

"You got it, hun," the waitress said before disappearing towards the kitchen.

Hap was smiling at her when she looked back to him. "Just like old times."

"Except we're not on a job," she smirked, recalling all the times they spent in small diners after finishing a job.

"Maybe we should find a job," he suggested. "You know death always brings us closer."

She laughed when she realized what was going on. "You're upset that I'm not your little secret anymore." He suddenly became very interested in a spot on the table. "Don't worry. You're still my bestie, Hap."

He glared at her. "Fuck you," he muttered.

"Love you too," she smirked.

* * *

Once they finished their food and left a nice sized tip for the waitress, they went back to out to her car. As she opened her door, Ophelia spotted someone standing in the shadows behind Happy. She discreetly looked over her shoulder and saw at least one figure coming towards her. They were being surrounded.

"Hap," she hissed. He looked up at her in question. She jerked her head in the direction of the guy behind him. "We have company."

His eyes went dark. He quickly looked around. There were five of them coming at them from all sides. "What do you wanna do?" he asked Ophelia.

"It's been awhile since I was in a good fight," she shrugged.

"Five against two? That's not very good odds."

She smirked. "Just don't scratch my car." She turned to the two men walking towards her. "Can I help you, boys?"

"We're here to send a message," one of them said. All the men that were circling them were very rough looking. This was clearly not their first time threatening someone.

"A message to who?" Ophelia questioned.

He went toe to toe with her. "All Sons will die," he threatened.

She looked him in the eye. "Good luck with that message." She brought her head back and hit him squarely in the head with her own. He staggered back, holding his head. She took the time to shrug off her leather jacket. She pushed up her sleeves and brought her fists up.

She waited for them to make a move first. She could hear Happy fighting on the other side of the car, but she couldn't worry about him right now. She had two very large problems in front of her.

If someone were to question Ophelia what had happened during the fight, she wouldn't be able to tell them anything. She reacted on pure instinct. The will to survive. She had been in enough fights in her lifetime to know how to bring someone down as quickly as possible. It wasn't until she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder that she was brought back to reality.

He stood in front of her with a wicked smile on his face while his friend laid on the ground. She glanced down to see a knife handle sticking out of her shoulder. She forced the pain out of her mind and focused on the man in front of her.

"You're one tough bitch," he commented.

"You have no idea who I am," she said. In a swift move, she pulled the knife out of her chest. She could feel blood soaking her shirt and the smell of metallic filled her senses. She was going to bleed out if she didn't finish this quickly.

With determination, she advanced on the man in front of her. Time slowed down. His fist threatened to make contact. She blocked it and sidestepped him. She brought the knife up into the soft part of his back. He froze before falling to his knees. Blood dripping from his mouth.

Ophelia fell to ground out of pure exhaustion. She forced herself upright. She leaned back against her car and tried to steady her breathing.

"Hap, you alive over there?" she called out to him.

It was a long minute before he answered. "I'm breathing," he forced out.

"You hit?" She hadn't thought she had heard any gunshots, but that didn't mean anything. She was so focused on her fight that she probably wouldn't have noticed a bomb go off.

"No," he grumbled.

"Good," she sighed in relief. She struggled to her feet, careful to not move her shoulder. She went over to where Happy sat on the other side of the car. He looked pretty worse for wear too, but he was alive. "We need to clean up the bodies before anyone sees them."

He nodded and strained to get to his feet. He looked her over; his eyes lingering on her shoulder. "You hit?"

Ophelia shook her head. "Stabbed," she explained. "We can patch it once we clean them up."

As quickly as they could with their injuries, they put each of the men's bodies in her car. It was a tight fit, but they didn't have far to go. Ophelia gave Hap the keys to the car to allow him to drive home.

Once he pulled into her garage, he came around and opened the door for Ophelia. "What do we do with them?" he asked motioning to the bodies.

"Put them in the backroom. I'll get a clean up crew from the company to come," she said as she struggled to get out of the car.

"You sure that's a good idea?" he questioned. "Death Dealers ask questions."

"Just help stitch me up," she snapped. "We will be long gone before any other Death Dealers are here." He reluctantly followed her into the house. "There's a medical kit on top of the fridge."

"I have to call the club to tell them we were jumped."

She tried to ignore the stabbing pain in her shoulder. "Can you help me from bleeding over the kitchen first?"

He stalked over. He pulled the med kit off the top of the fridge and threw it down on the table next to her before taking out his cell phone and dialing Chibs' number.

Ophelia rolled her eyes. She dug through the bag until she found gauze to help stop the bleeding. She took a better look at the wound. It was going to need stitches, but it definitely wasn't the worse wound she had had.

"Brother, we got problems," Hap explained to Chibs. "We got jumped in a diner parking lot… We'll be okay. Ophelia took a knife to the shoulder… No, I don't know who they were."

"They were Horsemen," Ophelia said suddenly. She stood up and started searching for a bottle of whiskey.

Hap turned to her. "You sure?"

She found a half empty bottle of Jack Daniels. "Yeah," she told him. "Saw one of their tattoos." She took a large gulp straight from the bottle. "The club doesn't need to come. We can take care of this and be back in Charming on schedule." Hap only stared at her. "Are you going to get off the fucking phone and stitch me up anytime soon?" she said impatiently.

He finished his phone call with Chibs. He brought a chair in front of her and sat down. He carefully helped her pull her shirt over her head leaving her in just her bra.

"What's the plan?" he asked as he began to clean the wound. He wasn't very good at putting people back together. It was sloppy, and he knew she was going to have another scar.

"I'm gonna call my contact with the DEA and make an anonymous tip that the Devil's Horsemen are transporting drugs from Texas to California," she told him as she clung onto the bottle. "Even if they don't have anything on them, every patched Horsemen will get stopped and detained for a day or two."

"Giving us more time," he said smirking. He hated cops, but Ophelia knew how to use them to her advantage. "How do you think they found us?"

She sipped from the bottle. "They had to have followed us from Charming." She watched him start stitching her up. It wasn't pretty, but it worked. And it wasn't like she didn't have other scars. "Somehow, one of us always ends up getting stitches when we're together."

Hap avoided eye contact. "You always need stitches." He finished up the last stitch and started cleaning up the mess. "You should get some sleep."

"We need to pack up the guns and head back to Charming," she said stubbornly. She stood up and started for her bedroom.

With her back to him, he tried not to look. He knew what was on her back, but his eyes went there involuntarily. Thick white scars ran across like lines on a map. A memory flashed of finding her on a cement floor; those wounds dripping with fresh blood.

She started to leave. "Hey," Hap called to her. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this."

"It's not your fault," she said forcing a smile before disappearing down the hallway.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

So the Horsemen are already in Charming. It's only a matter of when before they hit the club.

Unfortunately, this is probably going to be the last chapter for the next few months. There are other things that I need to focus on. For most of July I won't have access to internet. I will still be writing; so once I can, I will start posting again.


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:** First off, so sorry it has been so long. Life was a little bit more crazy than expected. I don't know how often updates are going to be, but I am hoping to give you something every once and a while. So thank you to all those who have stuck around.

Secondly, to the guest who left a review asking about Ophelia's age and everything. Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. Ophelia is the same age as Jax. She was childhood best friends with Jax and Opie. She knows things about Clay and John Teller because her father, Isaiah, was one of her JT's best friends from Vietnam and the founder of SAMTAC, and Isaiah let her be privy about club stuff more than what he probably should've been while she was growing up. I'm planning explaining that more in future chapters. Clay didn't recognize her when he first saw her. He only realized who she was when Jax said her name. I hope I explained that well enough for you. If you have anymore questions about anything or I didn't explain it well enough, I am happy to answer them and clear up any confusion.

* * *

Happy and Ophelia were on the road early that morning. After the run in with the Horsemen the night before, Hap had wanted to get out of Arizona as soon as possible. Not that Ophelia blamed him. She wasn't sure the two of them could handle another run in with the Horsemen without attracting the attention of local law. Ophelia also had a feeling he also wanted to put as much space between them and the clean up crew the company had sent for the bodies of the dead Horsemen. Those guys made even Happy look normal.

It was early afternoon by the time they got to Charming. It had been a long drive, and Ophelia's shoulder was pretty sore after sitting in the car for the past 8 hours. All she could think about was getting some food, taking a long ass shower, and getting some much needed sleep. However, when they got to TM the gates were locked up tight.

Happy got off his bike and banged his fist on the gate. "Assholes! Open the fucking gate!"

The prospects quickly slid the gate open and muttered their apologies to Happy without meeting his deathly glares. Once he successfully scared the prospects shitless, he rode inside the gates with Ophelia following closely behind.

The entire lot was filled with cars and bikes. Jax must have called for a lock down when he heard about them getting jumped the night before. There wasn't even space for her to park her car. Instead, she just parked in front of the door to the clubhouse. Once she climbed out of the car, her eyes barely had time to adjust to the bright sunlight when two strong arms pulled her to his chest. All she saw was black leather and blond hair.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Jax whispered in her ear, not letting her go.

"If you keep holding me like this, I won't be okay," she mumbled.

He quickly let her go. "Shit, I'm sorry." He looked her over. When Happy had told him that she had been stabbed, all he could think about was how he had yelled at her before she left. "I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"Don't worry about it, Teller. It's not the first time nor the last. I'm sure," she smirked. She walked back to the trunk of her car. She opened it up revealing all the guns and ammo she'd had in her house in Arizona. "This should help our problems." All the guys crowded around.

"Holy shit," Jax mumbled.

"This is all like military grade shit," Tig said as he picked up a few of the gun.

"Better," Happy added, grinning.

"How do you get this kind of shit?" Opie asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I can't be telling you all my secrets now, can I?"

Tig enlisted the some of the guys to start unloading. Meanwhile, Ophelia went to the front of the car. She came back to Jax with a very thick envelope.

She held it out to him. "That should be about $50,000 give or take a couple dollars."

Jax looked at it in shock. He hadn't really thought she was going to get that kind of cash that easily. He took it from her carefully. Almost as if it was going to bite him. "Thank you."

"Don't thank me until we make it to the other side of this shit."

He nodded in agreement. "I want Tara to look at your shoulder. Make sure you're okay."

"It's fine," she argued. "Hap sewed me up, and he did a better job than most of my other injuries."

His smile faltered. How many times had she been hurt? He recovered and gave her his signature smirk. "It would make me feel better if you got it looked at, darlin'."

She chuckled. "First off, don't call me darlin'. Secondly, I'm not here to make you feel better, Jackson." She rolled her eyes. "But I'll do it to make you shut up." She started for the clubhouse.

"Thanks, babe!" he called after her.

 _Babe?_ She hesitated slightly. The last time he had called her that it had been an entirely different situation. Wrapped up in each other….

 **Summer of 1993**

 _"Holy shit," Jax panted as he rolled off her. "That was fucking mind blowing." Once he caught his breath, Jax went to the bathroom to clean up and dispose of the used condom._

 _She stared up at the ceiling, trying to steady her breathing. It had been good but not mind blowing. He certainly had a lot to learn still; he hadn't even gotten her off._

 _"How was it for you?" Jax asked as he crawled back into bed beside her._

 _"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answers to," she said, teasing him._

 _Jax flinced. That was a low blow. "Jesus, Leela, you sure do know how to hurt a guy."_

 _She giggled. "I liked that thing you did with your hips towards the end."_

 _"Yeah?" he smirked. He reached for the cigarettes on the nightstand._

 _Ophelia rolled onto her stomach and took one from him. "You learn that from Hustler?" He nodded enthusiastically. "Maybe do it more than once the next time you talk a girl into getting in your bed." They finished off their cigarettes in silence. She snubbed hers out in the ashtray on the nightstand and then climbed out of bed. She started pulling on her clothes that had scattered around the clubhouse dorm._

 _"Where you going?" Jax asked, sitting up straight. He was certainly enjoying the view of her bent over pulling on her jeans, but he would much rather of her naked beside him._

 _"Gotta find my dad," she said, tugging her shirt over her head. "We're suppose to be going back to Tacoma today."_

 _"Come on, babe. We got enough time for another time or two."_

 _She fixed her hair before kissing Jax on the lips. "See you around, Jax."_

 _"Leela!" He called after her. "Ophelia!" he yelled, but she didn't even glance over her shoulder._

Ophelia shook the memory away. That had been a very long time ago. Back when they were just crazy stupid teenagers. She glanced over her shoulder at Jax. He was watching the guys unload all the guns. He stood tall. He looked like the president he was raised to be. She continued into the clubhouse before Jax could notice she was looking at him.

All the club members' families were packed inside. The kids running around reminded her of all the times she had been stuck here during lock downs growing up. She had always gotten herself in trouble during those times… Like the first time she slept with Jax. God, she needed to get laid so she would stop thinking about long lost history.

Of course she found Tara in Jax's old dorm room with both Abel and Thomas. Today was the day to remind her of all the buried memories of her and Jax.

"Hey," Ophelia whispered trying not to disturb the boys. Abel was fast asleep in the bed well Tara tried to get Thomas asleep as well. She knew waking up sleeping kids was one of the worst things you could do to a mother. "I was wondering if you could take a look at my shoulder."

Tara nodded and laid Thomas down on the bed next to his brother. "Jax said you got stabbed last night," she said as she got her medical kit out.

Ophelia shrugged out of her jacket carefully. "Yeah. Something like that."

Tara's eyes went wide when Ophelia took her shirt off to reveal the messy stitches. "Jesus…"

Ophelia looked down at her shoulder. She didn't think it looked that bad. It stopped her from bleeding to death. Then again, she already had a mess of scars; so it didn't really matter what it looked like.

Tara gently moved her arm testing the mobility. "How did it happen?"

"Some jackass decided that he wanted his knife in my shoulder." She grimaced when Tara hit a tender spot. "Although, I'm pretty sure he was aiming for my neck."

"Weren't you scared?"

Ophelia looked Tara in the eye. "Jax hasn't told you what I do, has he?" She shook her head. "What happened last night is pretty much expected in my line of work."

"What?" Tara stuttered. "Why don't you get out of it?"

"Because I'm good at it." Ophelia could see the wheels turning in Tara's head.

Tara looked between the boys and Ophelia. "Could… could you help get me and the boys out of here?"

She couldn't believe Tara was asking her of all people. "Why do you want to leave so bad?"

"It' not safe for any of us here," she pleaded. "You have to help me get my boys out of here."

Ophelia slipped her shirt over her head. "All I have to tell you is if you do run, don't take the boys." She looked at Abel and Thomas asleep on the bed. "No matter how much Jax loves you, he loves those boys more." She looked Tara in the eye. "There's no doubt in my mind that he'll kill you." Without another word, she took her jacket and left Tara to fume.

When she walked out, she spotted Happy sitting at the bar. She made her way over to him. He was leaning over what looked like a full bottle of beer. She took the stool next to him and stole his beer.

"Really?" he asked as he watched her drink from it. "Why you gotta be like that?"

"You weren't drinking it, " she shrugged. "Plus, I needed a drink."

"Bitch," he mumbled to himself. He waved down the chick behind the bar for another beer. "What did doc say about the shoulder?"

"She thinks I'll live," she said sarcastically.

He made a throaty noise. "You shouldn't have been in the position to get stabbed." He stared straight ahead, not meeting her eyes.

Ophelia could tell he was blaming himself. She put her hand on his arm. "Hap, it wasn't your fault."

"I asked you to come here," he grumbled.

"And you taught me how to kill," she said pointedly. "So if you're really keeping track, my whole life is your fault."

"You should blame me. You could have been someone important instead of a killer."

She gritted her teeth. He was never one to throw himself a pity party. "I would be a fucking mess if it wasn't for you. Hell, I would probably be dead." He looked towards her finally. "I have never blamed you for anything. I control my life. I choose what happens. Don't be throwing yourself a little pity party because you think my whole life is your fault. My life was fucked up way before you came into it."

He smiled at her. A tiny smile, but a smile nonetheless. "I knew there was a reason I liked you."

She squeezed his arm. "Love you too, Hap." He grunted in response which was as close as she was going to get him saying it outloud.

"Table. Now," Chibs yelled from the doorway of the chapel.

Happy stood up and then looked down at Ophelia who was just drinking her beer. "You too," he grunted pulling her up to his feet.

"I'm invited?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "Don't see why not. You brought the guns back."

"We brought the guns back," she corrected. He rolled the toothpick between his lips and gave her a curt nod. She followed him to the chapel, but Chibs stopped her just short of the door. "Got a problem?" she questioned.

"I'm glad you're alright, lass," he said warmly.

She bit back the smartass reply. "Me too," she smiled. She brushed by him to take her seat along the wall.

Jax waited for everyone to get settled in at the table. He noticed Chibs glancing towards Leela every few seconds. It was a strange thing to see since his VP had pretty much ignored her since she had came to Charming. Jax wondered if it had anything to do with Ophelia getting hurt for the sudden change in Chibs' behavior. If that was the case, it meant there was a very good chance Chibs had feelings for her.

Shifting his attention away from Chibs and Ophelia, Jax looked to the rest of his club. "As you all know, the Devil's Horsemen are most likely in Charming already. Hap and Leela think the Horsemen followed them out of Charming; that's how they knew where to find them."

"How do we know for sure that they're here?" Tig asked.

Jax looked down at the Reaper carving in the table. "We don't. I was hoping Leela had any information about it."

She looked up when she heard her name. "Are you serious?" she asked. "In the past twenty four hours, I have been on the road for sixteen hours. Had to fight guys twice my size. Got stabbed in the process. All while I was getting you guys $50,000 worth of guns and money for more guns. I am running on about an hour of sleep. I'm tired, hungry, and I want a fucking shower. I haven't had time to think about getting you information about your own goddamn town." She took a deep breath and stood up. "Now you guys can do whatever you want, but I'm not here to be at your beck and call."

Ophelia knew she was overreacting, but it felt good to stand up to a room full of men. She forced the doors open and strode out. Her stomach led her to the kitchen. She rummaged around looking for something to make. She settled on making some pasta. It was the one thing that she could make at the moment and make her less grouchy.

"There's croweaters to do that, sweetheart," Gemma said at the doorway with her arms crossed.

"But they would probably try to poison me," she said as she threw the pasta in the boiling water.

Gemma raised an eyebrow. "You know something I don't?"

"I'm the new girl who is closer to all the guys more than they would ever hope to be," she said, keeping her back to Gemma. "If I was them, I would try to kill me too. Or at least run me out of town."

Gemma pursed her lips. "Has Tara said something to you?"

"Not about the croweaters," Ophelia sighed, knowing Gemma was going to grill her for answers.

Gemma came to her side. "What has she said?"

She stopped stirring the contents of the pot. "She has been asking me how I got away from the club."

Gemma was silent as she thought it over. "How did you get away from the club?"

Ophelia smiled. "I didn't." She went back stirring. "Tacoma knew right where I was. I only left SAMCRO."

Gemma pursed her lips. "We treated you that bad?"

"No. I just couldn't be here anymore."

"You make me some?" Happy interrupted. He came and looked over her shoulder.

She was extremely thankful that Hap had chosen now to come into the kitchen. She didn't Gemma all up in her business. "Yeah, I made enough for you too." She grabbed a bowl and scooped the pasta into it. She handed it to Happy.

"Thanks, Love," Hap mumbled as he got a fork.

Gemma watched the exchange between the two. "You have to be fucking him," she said once Happy left. "He doesn't act like that with anyone except you."

"You really want to talk about my sex life?" Gemma nodded with a smirk on her lips. "I've never fucked Happy. We have fucked the same girl at the same time." Gemma raised her eyebrow in question. "It was magical."

"You're still a smartass little bitch, aren't you?"

"All my life," Ophelia smirked. She pushed past Gem with her food. She sat down next to Happy on one of the couches. He was watching a blonde croweater dancing on the pole. If Ophelia looked past the terrible lingerie, the girl was actually pretty hot.

"So did I miss anything in church?" she asked him. Having food in her stomach made incredibly less angry.

"You mean after you went off like a crazy bitch?" he said glancing to her.

She shrugged. "You've told me crazy looked good on me."

A grin flashed across his face. He did like the look in her eyes when she was in the middle of doing a job.

"I'm gonna ride out and check on Rooster," she said suddenly.

"Jax said we can't ride alone, and the Horsemen will follow you to the warehouse."

"Then you better come with me to make sure I don't die."

Happy narrowed his eyes at her. He could tell that she had something planned. But it was Ophelia, and her plans usually worked. It would at least get him out of the clubhouse and he would maybe get to kill someone too.

He nodded. "Okay."

Ophelia and Happy were getting on their bikes when Jax strolled out. "Where you guys going?" he asked.

"Gonna take care of some shit," Ophelia said as she strapped on her helmet.

Jax looked between her and Happy. "Do I want to know?"

"We'll tell you if you need to know," she said simply.

He stepped closer to her. "If you were anyone else, I would put up with this shit."

"If I was anyone else, you wouldn't have any guns." She started up her bike. "We'll call if we need help."

Hap started up his bike. Ophelia kicked her bike into gear and rode out of the lot.

Jax watched them leave. It pissed him off to no end that she wouldn't tell him what she was doing. But if the last few days had shown him anything, it was that she didn't do anything without good reason, and she has only gotten hurt when she did what he told her what to do.

"Where are they off to?" Chibs asked, coming up next to him.

"Not sure," Jax mumbled, still staring at the open gate.

"So we're just letting women do whatever they want now?" Chibs asked.

He turned to his VP. "If you want to try to stop her, be my guest."

* * *

As soon as they left TM, they were being followed. However, both Ophelia and Happy were very good at losing tails. It only took them a few miles to lose the SUV that had been following their every move. After they were sure no one else was following them, they headed to the warehouse.

"What are we doing with him?" Hap asked as they walked inside.

"I'm gonna get him to tell me how to get a hold of the Horsemen's president." Ophelia pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head. Her eyes adjusted to the dark room. She rolled her eyes when she saw Rat quickly shoving a porn mag behind him as he saw them walking in.

He glance towards her trying to figure out her reasoning. "Why?" Hap asked her.

"I'm going to end this before it goes any further," she said, walking ahead of him.

He quickly caught up with her. He never understood how someone so short could walk so fast. "You're gonna kill their president," he grinned. He got excited at the thought of watching her kill.

She stopped at the door that kept Rooster locked away. "Not yet." He raised an eyebrow in question. "We'll see what happens."

He growled in frustration. He hated how she acted so nonchalant about everything. She was ten steps ahead of everyone else, but never let anyone in on it. He would give almost anything to see inside her head.

Ophelia pushed open the door. Rooster was lounging on the cot she had made Jax get for him reading some shitty romance novel. It didn't look all that comfortable, but it was better than the floor.

"Lily," Rooster smirked, setting the book aside. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"Your club tried to kill me and Hap last night."

Rooster eyes traveled over Ophelia's body looking for any injuries. "You obviously made it out alive. I probably can't say the same about the other guys."

"No. We killed all five of them." She carefully looked for any reaction from him, but he showed nothing.

"That's very impressive. You must be very good at what you do," Rooster said coolly.

She glanced to Happy and smiled. "You could say that."

"What do you want from me?" Rooster questioned.

"Are we keeping you from your book?" Happy asked, smirking.

Ophelia reached into her backpack as the two men stared each other down. She pulled out a leftover container of the pasta she had made earlier. "I'm sorry it's not warm. It took longer than expected to get here."

Rooster took it and eyed uncertainly. "I know you have better ways of killing me than with poison, but I can't help but worry."

Happy rolled his eyes and stepped forward. He picked a piece of pasta with his fingers and ate it. "If we were gonna kill you, it would be a lot bloodier."

"I don't care if you eat it or not. You can starve for all I care. I just want to know how to get ahead of your president," Ophelia said crossing her arms as he started shoveling food into his mouth.

"I don't have a president," he said with a mouth full of food.

She shared a look with Happy. "A man with nothing to lose."

"You know what I would do," Happy grumbled while glaring at Rooster.

"Yeah…" she sighed. "I don't really feeling like pulling fingernails off right now though."

"Woah, woah," Rooster said quickly, putting the food down. "Nobody needs to be pulling any fingernails. Okay? I'll tell you whatever you want."

"I still can't believe how quickly you're willing to turn on your club," she mused.

"How many times do I have to tell you? They aren't my club. They left me for dead. They haven't even tried to get me," he ranted. "I'll tell you anything."

"I want to set up a meet with whoever is in charge of the Devil's Horsemen."

Rooster looked between Ophelia and Happy. "You sure that's a good idea?"

Ophelia laughed as she walked around the small space. "I don't really think you're in the position to voice your opinion at the moment."

* * *

Both of them slipped on their sunglasses as they stepped out of the warehouse. It was a warm Californian day. A day that made Ophelia want to go to the beach and spend it with her toes in the sand.

"When are we going to set up that meet?" Hap asked as they strode to their bikes.

She stopped walking. "Hap," she said, causing him to stop as well. "I don't think it would be a good idea if you were there."

"What" he snapped. "It's not safe for you to go alone."

"Probably not," she conceded. "But I don't think it would be smart for me to go to this meet with someone as terrifying as you."

The muscle in his jaw twitched as he stared her down. "Fine," he grumbled. "But if anything happens to you and Jax finds out that I let you go alone, he'll kill me."

"He won't find out," she promised.

Happy highly doubted they come out the other side of this unharmed, but at least with this it was better than the impending war that would land in Charming.

"You better on get yourself killed," he said as he sung his leg over his bike.

"Wouldn't dream of it," she said, following suit.


	9. Chapter 8

The usual lock down party was in full swing by the time the sun had gone down. Everyone was still nervous about the Horsemen making another move, but it didn't stop them from partying. While everyone was staying close to the clubhouse, Ophelia had stayed in the garage to work on her Harley. Nothing really needed done on it, but she couldn't stand partying when she was trying to out the meet with the Horsemen.

Working on her bike had always helped her think. She would start at one end of the bike and work towards the other. It had always helped her whenever she got stuck on a job. Now was no different, except that it was the fate of her friends and family at stake.

Money would be the obvious choice in most cases when it came to making someone do what she wanted, but it would probably take most of the cash that she had. Weapons would be her next choice, but seeing as the Horsemen have their own access to all the guns they could need, it wouldn't be worth it. She could offer up her services as mercenary, but she didn't like doing jobs without getting paid. The only for sure thing she could think of that would make the Horsemen leave the Sons alone would be to give them SMACRO's territory, but that would not go over well with the club. For the first time in a very long time, she didn't know what to do.

She had been thinking so hard that as she tightened the bolt her hand slipped causing her to split her knuckles open. "Goddamn it," she cursed, bringing her hand to her chest. "Motherfuckin' son of a bitch."

"You kiss your mother with that mouth?"

She looked up to see Chibs leaning against the garage door watching her. "My mother is a junkie whore who hopefully died in her own puke long ago," she said through her teeth.

Chibs sighed and pushed off the wall. "Here, let me see it, love." Before she could object, he took her hand in his. "Jesus," he muttered as he ran his thumb gently across the back of her hand. He almost couldn't tell where she had just split it open. All of her knuckles were busted up and scabbed over. Before he could get a really good look at them, she pulled her hand away from him.

"I'm fine," she said. "Bloody knuckles are the worst of my problems." She started putting her tools away because working on her bike clearly wasn't helping her think.

"You want to tell me why yer out here all by yourself?" Chibs asked as she moved around the garage.

She stopped in front of him as she held a rag to her bleeding hand. "I'm just working on my bike."

Chibs made a snorting noise. "If you're anything like your father, I can almost guarantee that your bike runs better than all of the other ones in the lot."

She rolled her eyes. "I highly doubt that."

"There you are, Leela," Jax said as he strode into the garage. "I want to buy my best friend a drink."

"When was the last time you actually bought a drink, Jackson?" she said crossing her arms.

He brought his hand up to his heart. "You wound me," he said feigning hurt. "Come on, Leela. We haven't partied together since we were stupid teenagers. Let's have some fun for old time's sake."

She glanced to Chibs who seemed very interested with the old Toyota that was sitting in the shop. She let out a sigh. "Fine, but you have to get me the best whisky you have." It wasn't like she was getting anywhere with coming up with a plan for the Horsemen.

Jax grinned in victory. "Oh, I know just the stuff." He slung his arm over her shoulders. "You coming, Chibs?" he called to his VP.

"I'll catch up to ya later, Jackie Boy."

Ophelia tried to catch Chibs' eye but Jax led her out into the lot towards the clubhouse. They had just lit the fires in the old oil drums. The clubhouse was packed with people. Everyone had drinks in their hands. Music flooded the air. It was like she was thrown back twenty years. Sure, she had been to a lot of parties over the years, but no one threw a party like SAMCRO.

She waited at the bar as Jax went behind to get the whisky. She took the chance to look around the room. A blonde sitting on the other side of the room caught her eye. She was glaring at Ophelia like there was no tomorrow.

Jax popped up next to her with a shit eating grin on his face and a bottle in his hands. "Do we need glasses?" he asked her.

Ophelia snorted. "I would like to stay upright tonight."

"Yeah, right," he laughed, but grabbed two glasses anyways. "Roof?" She nodded. They started to the roof, but Jax was stopped by Tig.

"Hey, brother," Tig said, eyes going to the bottle in Jax's hand and then to Ophelia. "Tara's looking for you."

Jax looked at Leela almost as if he was asking for permission. "Go ahead. Take care of your old lady," she said, wiggling her eyebrows. "Tig will keep me company."

Tig draped his arm over her shoulders. "Yeah, I'll make sure she doesn't kill anybody."

"Okay," Jax nodded. He held up the bottle to Ophelia. "We'll finish this later." She nodded and then disappeared down the hallway.

She looked up to Tig and patted him on the chest. "Come on, Tiggy. Buy me a drink."

He grinned. "You got it, doll."

* * *

An hour later, Ophelia found herself sitting at one of the picnic tables surrounded by Tig, Happy, Bobby, Opie, and Juice. They had been telling old stories and some new stories. It had been some of the times she'd had since coming back to Charming.

"Did you hear about Killer dressing up as a churro vendor?" Tig asked her as he giggled.

"What?" She looked wide eyed at Happy. She couldn't believe it. "Why the hell were you selling churros? Do you know how to make churros and have been holding out on me?"

Hap rolled her eyes and flipped her off.

"Speaking of tasty treats," Ophelia said, looking to Bobby. "You still makin' those amazing muffins and banana bread?"

Bobby chuckled. "Of course, darlin'. I'll make you some the next chance I get."

"Awesome," she grinned. Beside her, Juice lit up a joint and passed it to her. She gladly accepted it. She definitely needed to relax at the moment. "Oh, that's some good shit." She passed it to Opie.

"Thanks," Juice grinned. "I'm part owner in a weed shop."

Ophelia laughed to herself as she listened to Juice brag. "That's cool. I've helped out a couple of the legal grows up in Washington."

"Woah, that's cool," Juice said in awe.

Ophelia finished off her beer and stood up. "Anyone else need another?" She rolled her eyes as all of the men before her raised their hands.

Opie stood up. "I'll help you with those," he offered.

They went inside to the bar. They quietly stood together as they waited for the bartender to come their way.

"I haven't seen Donna," she said suddenly.

Opie looked down at her. "As soon as I heard about you getting jumped, I sent her and the kids up to Tacoma," he explained.

"She make it okay?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I couldn't let her stay here." He rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. "You think we can settle this without bloodshed?"

She chewed on her cheek as she thought about her answer. It was better if she didn't hold anything else back from Opie. "I'm going to try to make sure no one gets hurts on our side, but I honestly don't think it will be smooth."

He sighed. "We've been through bad shit before."

"And you'll make it through this," she promised.

Opie forced a smile. "Of course we will. We got you on our side."

Finally, the bartender came to take their order. Once they placed their order, the bartender ducked behind the bar to get all the beers. While they waited, Ophelia felt someone come up on the other side of her.

"Jax is mine."

Ophelia slowly turned to the girl. Of course it was the blonde that was eyeing her earlier. She looked up at Opie who was trying to suppress a smirk.

"I thought Jax was married to someone who wasn't you," Ophelia said to the blonde. Not that it mattered he was married. Jax fucked whoever he wanted.

"It doesn't matter. Stay away from him. He's mine."

Ophelia resisted rolling her eyes. "Honey, I had Jax long before you had tits." She looked the girl over and lowered her voice. "But if you really want a good time, I know how to make you shake all night long."

The girl's mouth dropped open in shock and then stormed away.

"I don't think I've ever seen Ima speechless," Opie spoke up. "What did you say to her?"

Ophelia couldn't hide the big smirk on her face. "That I could fuck her better than Jax."

Opie choked and started coughing. "So you're in to pussy now?"

"I've always been into pussy, Ope."

"But… but you were always with guys?"

"Really? You sure about that?" she asked raising her eyebrows. "You don't remember when we were growing up when suddenly a girl went from following you and Jax around to only being interested in me."

Opie chuckled. "I guess you're right."

Finally, the beers were sat in front of them. They took them back out to the other guys.

"You're just in time, doll," Tig grinned as he took a beer from her. "I'm gonna be fighting the killer."

Ophelia looked to Happy in question. He had taken some hard hits the night before. She didn't think it was a good idea for him to fight, but Happy could never back down from a fight.

After she handed Juice his beer, she stood in front of Happy and gave him his beer. "What you fighting for?" she asked quietly. He looked at her but all she saw was the dark look in his eyes. "Hap?" she pushed.

The muscle in his jaw twitched. "Tig was running his mouth."

"Tig's always running his mouth." She didn't get what the big deal was.

He glared at the back of Tig's head. "He was saying shit about you."

She furrowed her brows. What kind of stuff did Tig have to say about her to make Happy that pissed off? Unless… "You're fighting for my honor," she said, a teasing smile on her lips. "Tig said he wanted to fuck me, didn't he?"

He muttered something under his breath and chugged his whole beer.

"Where's the tape?" she asked.

He jumped to his feet. "You're not fighting." Anyone else would've been terrified by the look he was giving her.

"Don't get your panties in a twist," she said, teasingly. "I'm gonna tape up your hands so you won't bust up your knuckles for defending my honor for whatever reason."

He tossed her the roll of tape from the table next to him. He sat down in front of her and held out his hands to her. She started wrapping the tape around his hands. She didn't even have to think about what she was doing. She had done it so many times that it was routine.

Happy's eyes never left her as she taped him up. Something had changed when she came to Charming. He hated the other guys looking at her. He hated how close she and Jax were. He hated that she wasn't his secret anymore.

"You know, we're gonna have to talk about why you feel the need to defend my honor," she said as she finished up. Hap only grunted in response. "Don't give Tig any reason to let his ego grow."

The corners of his mouth lifted into a smile. "You got it, Love." He handed her his kutte before cimbing into the ring.

Ophelia stood back away from the crowd forming around the ring. The scene took her back to her childhood when she would have to entertain herself at parties like this because her dad had become entangled with his current flavor of the week. She had never blamed Isaiah for not giving her the attention a young girl needed or thought he was a bad father for letting her grow up in that kind of environment. She couldn't imagine growing up normal; a life without the club.

If she hadn't grown up in the club, she certainly wouldn't be worrying about what kind of leverage she needed against the Horsemen. What she would have to do in order to show them their place. As time went on though, she was starting to think that anything short of destroying every Devil's Horsemen charter wasn't going to work.

"Earth to Ophelia," someone said, snapping their fingers in front of her. "Anyone home?"

She looked to the owner of the fingers and was met by one of the biggest smiles she'd ever seen. "Koz," she smiled, throwing herself into his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Heard there was a hot mercenary in town. Figured I'd come see for myself," he said.

Ophelia pretended to look around. "Hot mercenary? Point me in the right direction because I need that in my life." Both of them laughed. "You here to help with the lockdown?"

"Mostly," he shrugged. "I was curious about what brought you back here finally."

"Happy asked me to come," she said simply.

A big grin spread across his face. "You two finally bumping uglies?"

"Jesus," she said rolling her eyes. "Is everyone want Hap and I to fuck?"

"Because you two are cut from the same cloth. Not to mention you desperately need to get laid."

"I don't need to get laid."

"That's bullshit and you know it," he laughed. "How long has it been? You sure there's not cobwebs up in there?"

She rolled her eyes but knew he was right. It had been a long time since she had gotten laid. "Do you have anyone in particular that you want me to take to bed?" she asked. "Besides Happy?"

"I would be available anytime for you," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

She playfully shoved him away. "In your dreams, Kozik."

He flashed his teeth. "I dream of it every night, baby."

This caused her to laugh. She had always gotten along well with Kozik. "I'm glad you're here. One more person who doesn't hate me."

"I'm sure not everyone hates you."

She snorted. She looked to the crowd surrounding the boxing ring. Hap and Tig were fighting, and by the amount of blood on Tig's face, it looked like Hap was winning.

"All they see when they look at me is someone who turned their back on them."

He chewed on his lip for a moment. He then shrugged off his backpack. "You're probably going to be pissed at me and be tempted to kill me." He reached inside and pulled out…

She narrowed her eyes at him. "My father's journals," she said, recognizing the stack of black books immediately.

"I didn't read them," he promised quickly. "I know whatever reason you've stayed away from Charming is in these." He held them out for her to take. "With these, you have the power to change the club."

She took the journals. The familiar pages between her fingers. Ophelia knew every word written. Every secret written.

"For someone who hasn't read them, you seem to know what's in them," she said with a small smile.

He gave her a sad smile. "Isaiah confided in me his suspicions before he died." He looked around to see if anyone was near enough to overhear him. He stepped closer to her and lowered his voice. "Clay really did kill John Teller, didn't he?"

Ophelia looked down at the journals. They were one of the few things she had left of her father. "According to Isaiah, he did."

Kozik slowly nodded his head. "I trusted your father with my life. He helped me get clean. He gave me a family. You have done a lot for me since he died. I have your back no matter what happens." He squeezed her shoulder reassuringly. "Go get laid before you explode." He started to walk away.

"Koz," she called after him. He looked over his shoulder at her. "Thank you."

He flashed her his signature smile. "Anytime, babe." He disappeared into the crowd.

Ophelia sighed and looked down at her hands. In one hand, she held her father's journals. Everything he thought and felt towards the club. Secrets that had been long forgotten. In the other hand, she held Happy's kutte; the reaper staring up at her.

She came here to help save the club. To help end a war. Now, she hadn't even finished the first war and she was considering turning their world upside down. It wasn't the right time to cause distrust between the club, but something had to be done.

She hid the journals in one of her saddlebags on her Harley before anyone could question her about them. She went back to the party to see that Happy had indeed won the fight. He had a croweater holding ice to his cheek while he talked with Tig. At least they seemed to be on better terms now.

"Did you kick his ass?" she asked as she handed him his kutte.

"Of course I did," he grumbled as he slid on his colors.

"I let you win!" Tig yelled.

Ophelia laughed and stuffed her hands in her pockets. Her mind was still back on the journals.

"Where were you at?" Hap asked.

"Oh, I ran into Kozik," she explained.

"What did that asshole want?" Tig asked.

Ophelia rolled her eyes. She swore that these guys could hold grudges better than high school girls. "Well, that's none of your business, Trager."

"Hey, Prez," Hap nodded to Jax as he walked towards them.

"There you are," Jax said, coming up next to Ophelia.

"Took you long enough," she smiled. "You take care of your old lady?"

"I always do." He looked towards Tig and Happy."They work some shit out?"

"I think so," she said.

He nodded. "You still up for that drink?"

"Of course."

* * *

"Do you remember when we used to come up here and pretend to have our own church while the club had their own?" They sat together, looking out over the TM lot and the Charming city lights. Even after twenty years, Charming hadn't changed that much.

"Of course I remember," she smiled. "We would discuss very important issues."

He laughed. "Like who was going to play on the swing first."

"And then as we got older, it got a little more interesting." She took a drink. "Stealing booze from the bar and playing never have I ever." She passed the whisky back to him.

"We should play," he smiked. The bottle sitting on his lips. "It would give me a chance to get to know your secrets."

"Okay." Her mind instantly going to the journals hidden away. "There isn't much I haven't done though."

"All the more reason to get you drunk and spilling your secrets."

"Whatever you say, boss," she said, shaking her head. "Do you want to go first or should I?"

He grinned. "Never have I ever killed someone for money."

She rolled her eyes and drank. "That was an easy one." He shrugged and laughed. "Um, I've never done prison time."

Jax narrowed his eyes at her. "You serious?" It was hard to believe that a mercenary has never done time.

"As a heart attack." She held the bottle out to him. She watched him drink it. "I believe it's your turn."

"I've never fucked a guy."

"Really? Are you even trying?" She snatched the bottle from him and drank. "I've never almost fucked my sister."

"How the hell do you know about that?"

"You know, the thing about bikers is that they have really big mouths."

"I didn't know she was my sister!"

"I'm sure that's what they all say."

"Fuck you," he said before drinking.

She laughed. "Have I hit a tender spot?"

"At least I've never disappeared from my family."

She sighed and leaned back. "You have every right to be pissed at me. I would be pissed at me. But once I tell you why I left, it will change everything."

"You also said that after our first time together," he said pointedly.

"It did change because you needed to fuck constantly."

He laughed. "Well, we were each other's firsts."

She flinched. "Jax there's something I need to tell you." He looked to her expectantly. "You weren't my first."

"What?" he said in disbelief.

"You were more like my third."

He was silent as he thought it over. "That explains so much." A grin spread across his face. "You're such a slut."

She laughed. "I know, right?" Both of them laughed together. "But I'm not the only one who is a slut," she said giving him a pointed look. "I had a run in with one of your conquests earlier."

He looked at her confused. "Who?"

"A lovely lady by the name of Ima," she teased.

"Jesus," he said, rolling his eyes. "Ima is anything but lovely." He shook his head. "What did she say to you?"

" 'Jax is mine. Stay away from him," she said, imitating Ima's voice. "You sure do know how to attract the the crazy."

"She was a mistake," Jax sighed. "I was trying to push Tara away."

"I see that worked well," she said dryly. "Tara doesn't know about our history together."

"No," he said looking down at his hands.

She chewed on her lip as she thought about Tara asking her how she got away from the club. "Have you given any thought about sending the boys and Tara up to Tacoma until this shit dies down?"

"I did when Opie sent Donna up there."

"But there's a part of you that doesn't trust her," she guessed.

He took the bottle from her and took a long drink. "Even after all this time, you still know me better than anyone else," he said. "I'm glad your back, Leela."

* * *

 **A/N: Thank you so so much to all the people who left reviews on the last chapter. I'm so happy you're liking it! I can't wait to hear what you think.**


	10. Chapter 9

Over the course of Ophelia's life, she had woken up in a lot of strange places. From either drinking too much or getting hit in the head, she had been in quite a few situations where she couldn't remember how she got there. However, when she woke up to a crow in her face, she immediately remembered the night before. Jax. The whisky. She couldn't believe she had let herself be in that position. There was too much at stake.

The crow cawed and tilted its head at her. "Fuck off," she groaned, burying her head in her arm.

The crow hopped closer and pecked at her hair.

"Go away," she said, waving her hand at the bird. It finally flew away, but it was too late. Ophelia was awake.

She rolled over onto her back and looked up at the pale morning sky. Jax was passed out several feet away from her. Her meet with the Horsemen was suppose to happen today. She needed to be ready when they called with a time and a place. She took a deep breath and forced herself into a sitting position. Careful not to disturb Jax, she made her way downstairs.

The clubhouse was quiet. People were passed out everywhere. It was strange seeing everything so calm after a party. She didn't even bother knocking before she entered. She had seen Happy in every way possible. So when the door swung open and all she saw was Happy's naked ass standing between a crow eater's bare legs, she wasn't all that surprised.

"Do you mind?" the blonde asked, covering her breasts.

"Jesus, Lil," Happy grunted, pausing in between thrusts. "You just gonna stand there and watch, or are you going to join in?"

Ophelia looked the girl over. She wasn't really her type. Her tits were too big. Ophelia liked it when they fit right in her hands. She also needed to get ready. "Nah, you finish. I'm gonna shower." Hap sent her a questioning look. She just shrugged in reply before heading into the bathroom.

"What's up with her?" the croweater asked Happy.

"Shut up," Happy grumbled before going back to fucking her senseless.

* * *

After a long shower, she felt like a new person. She wrapped a towel around her and went out to get her bag. Thankfully, the croweater was long gone and Happy was sitting up against the headboard with just the sheet covering his lap.

He brought the joint up to his lips as he watched the towel ride up her long legs as she bent over to go through her bag. He hadn't noticed how her tattoos curved perfectly with her body. It made her legs seem like they went on forever. Since she had walked in on him, he couldn't stop wondering what it would be like between her legs.

"You wanna tell me why you came in here without asking?" he asked.

She stood up straight with her clothes in hand. "The meet with the Horsemen is in a few hours. I needed to shower, and your bathroom is the only one I trust."

He leaned forward. "They called?"

She nodded. "They called while I was in the shower. It's up towards Tahoe. So I need to leave soon."

He shifted. He didn't like the idea of her going all the way up there alone, but he trusted her decision. He started to open her mouth to give her a piece of his mind but was interrupted by his door swinging open.

"Hey, Hap, have you seen.." Juice stopped mid sentence when he saw Ophelia in just a towel and Happy laying naked in bed. "Oh, um…"

"Spit it out, Juice," Happy said, losing his patience.

"Roosevelt wants to talk to Ophelia," Juice said staring at the ground.

"Fuck," she muttered, locking eyes with Hap. "Of course he has to do this today." She looked at Juice. "Tell the good sheriff I'll be out once I put on underwear."

Juice looked between Hap and Ophelia once again with a curious glance. He got out of there before Happy could catch him. He wondered out to the bar trying to figure out what he just saw.

"What's wrong with you, Juicey?" Chibs asked causing Juice to sat on one of one of the empty couches with coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

Juice's face scrunched up. "I just walked… I just saw…"

Chibs looked up from his coffee. "Spit it out, laddie."

"I went to find Ophelia for Roosevelt and her and Hap were naked," he said quickly.

Chibs' eyebrows shot up but he quickly schooled his shock. "They're both adults; they both can do what they please."

As if on cue, Ophelia strode out fully dressed. "Morning, boys. Sheriff outside?" Juice nodded dumbly. She kept going outside. She spotted the Sheriff leaning against his truck.

"Miss Loveless," Roosevelt greeted.

"Sheriff," Ophelia nodded. "What do I owe the pleasure?"

"I was hoping to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

She put on her sweetest smile. "Actually, Sheriff, I do mind." She pulled out a crisp black business card out of her pocket and held it out to him. "Any questions you have, you can contact my lawyer."

Roosevelt took the card from her and chuckled. "I hope you know what kind of people you're getting involved with."

"Yeah?" she smirked. "If I were you, I would be more worried about other things in this town besides a MC." They stared each other down. "Like I said, call my lawyer if you want to keep fishing."

She saw Roosevelt look over her shoulder. She didn't have to turn around to know that Happy was behind her.

"I hope you reconsider, Miss Loveless," Roosevelt said before climbing into his truck.

"What did he want?" Hap asked, coming up next to her. They stood together as they watched Roosevelt back out of the lot.

"Besides to show me how big his dick is?" He looked down at her. "I didn't let him get very far before giving him the number of my lawyer." 4

Happy snorted. "I need to get me one of those."

"You've reused condoms because you're so cheap. You would have a heart attack if you knew how much my lawyer charged."

"You leaving?" he asked changing the subject.

She looked around the lot. Only a few people were up. Now would be the time to slip on away unnoticed. "Yeah." They walked over to her bike together. She paused for a moment and then reached into her saddle bag. "I want you to keep these safe for me." She held out her father's journals. If something were to happen to her today, she didn't want them falling into the hands of the Devil's Horsemen. Besides Kozik, Hap was the only other person she trusted with them.

He looked at her carefully and reluctantly took them from her. He grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. "You're gonna come back through that gate in one piece, you got it?"

"And if I don't?" she challenged.

He spun her around and pushed her up against the wall. "That ain't an option, woman. We have shit to finish."

She nodded. "You won't get rid of me that easily."

A smile crept across Happy's face. "Go before someone sees you."

* * *

Ophelia sat on her bike as she waited for the Horsemen. She had gotten there early enough to scout out the surrounding area. The Horsemen had certainly picked a secluded spot. There was only one way in and out. The trees were thick, and no one was around for miles. It was a place you took someone to kill.

She heard the Harleys long before she saw them. The roar of the engines echoed through the woods. Five of them rode into the clearing single file.

Ophelia stood as she waited for them to dismount. She was not looking forward to this. Negotiations would not be easy with them, and she wasn't sure how it was going to end.

"You must be Lilith." He wore the president patch proudly on his chest. Ophelia recognized from her dealings with them from years ago. She gave him a curt nod. "You know, when I agreed on this meet, I was expecting more of you. Maybe even some of the patched members we're here to talk about."

"I do better working alone," she said, crossing her arms. "Assuming by the patch on your chest, you're Adam."

He laughed. "Oh, you're good." He circled around her. "You're not what I expected. Especially after hearing how many of my men you're killed."

"We've met before," she said dryly.

He stopped walking. "Have we?" He looked her over once again. "Oh, that's right." He laughed. "We have. It was a beautiful day in Mexico."

"Can we talk about the real reason we're here?" she said.

"Yeah," he grinned. "I'm guessing you're wanting to make a deal for the Sons." He hooked his thumbs through his belt loops. "What do you have to offer? Money? Guns?" He looked her up and down. "Services?"

She rolled her eyes. "You clearly have something in mind."

"Get them to give up their territory."

She narrowed her eyes. "You know that is never going to happen."

"Then you're wasting all of our time." Adam turned and started for his bike.

"I'll give you all of my contacts along the Mexico border," she said desperately.

Adam turned around and smirked at her. "You really are desperate, aren't you? Only a mercenary who was too close to a job would offer up their contacts." He got as close as he could to her without touching. "I bet that you just want to pull out your gun and shoot me, don't you?"

"Don't tempt me," she said through her teeth.

He reached out to twist a piece of her hair around his finger but she grabbed his hand. "Oh, she likes it rough," Adam said to his men. He looked down at her. "I'm sure you know that Lilith was Adam's first wife."

She narrowed her eyes. "Then you should know that Lilith left Adam because he refused to see her as an equal."

Adam laughed. "This woman knows her stuff." He walked around her. "I have something that should help you submit to me." He looked to his men and nodded.

"Bring him out!" one of them shouted.

There was rustling in the brush, and then two men emerged from behind holding Juice between them.

"We found him waiting for you," Adam said to her. "Figured a hotshot mercenary like yourself knew that though." He looked her over to see if she gave anything away. "So we're gonna bring both you back with us. If either one of you has problem with that, we'll start sending pieces of you to your friends."

Two Horsemen came on both sides of Ophelia and grabbed her arms. She tried to pull free.

"You do know who I am?" she said as she struggled. "If you do anything to me, you won't just have the Sons after you. Every Death Dealer in the world will be after you."

"We'll see about that," Adam smiled. "Load 'em up, boys. Let's get out of here."

* * *

Happy couldn't stand waiting around for answers; especially when it came to Ophelia out there in danger. He would much rather be out there getting answers, but that was Ophelia's job today. Instead, he had to be stay busy and keep his mind off of it.

There had been a piece of junk car in the garage for weeks now. It was the type of car that as soon as you started to fix one thing you'd find something else wrong. It was the just the kind of work he needed.

It didn't stop him from looking up every time a bike pulled through the gate. It was getting close to the time she should be back, and every time it wasn't her, he got a little more worried.

"She met with them, didn't she?"

Happy looked away from the engine to see Kozik standing over him with his arms crossed. "Yeah," he muttered, knowing how much Ophelia trusted Kozik.

"She suppose to be back soon?"

Hap nodded. "She left this morning."

"Shit," Kozik mumbled. "It's almost dark."

"No shit," Hap said, before going back to working on the stubborn engine.

Koz shifted his weight. "She'll be fine. She's been in worse situations and made it out," he said, trying to be positive. "Besides, for all we know, she could've just stopped to get something to eat."

Hap shot him a dark look and went back to work.

"Hap!" Jax called to him as he walked into the garage. "Where is she?"

He hated lying to Jax, but he had made a promise to her. So instead, he decided to play dumb. "Tara? Haven't seen her since this morning."

"Not Tara, man. Leela. Where is she?" Jax questioned.

Happy rolled the toothpick between his lips and glanced to Kozik. "She's gone."

Jax stepped closer. "I know you know where she is. Just like you've known where she was all these years."

"Jax," Koz said, trying to intervene.

Hap sighed in defeat; his loyalty to his president winning. "She went to a meet with the Devil's Horsemen mother charter this morning."

"Jesus Christ," Jax swore. "And you're just now telling me?" He looked to Kozik. "Did you know?"

"She didn't want me to tell you at all," Hap said.

"I am your goddamn president!" Jax yelled.

Happy didn't say anything as Jax was consumed with his rage. He had always felt that Jax let his emotions control him. Caused him to make rash decisions.

Once Jax calmed down, he looked to Happy. "Should she have been back by now?" Hap nodded. "Where did she go?"

"All she told me was it was close to Tahoe." Happy felt terrible for betraying Ophelia, but he was starting to get a feeling that something went wrong.

"Why didn't you go with her?"

"Because she asked me not to, and I trust her." Hap narrowed his eyes. "If something happened, she can handle herself," he said as if was trying to convince himself.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this one is a bit shorter than normal. The next chapter is one of my favorites; so it might be a bit before it's posted because I wanna make sure I'm super happy with it. Hope you are enjoying it so far. I love reading all of your reviews. Especially who you think Ophelia is going to end up with. It means a lot to me that you take the time to write those.**


	11. Chapter 10

It had been 24 hours to the minute since Happy had watched Ophelia ride out through the gates, and he was really starting to get worried. He knew she could handle herself better than most people. Hell, she had done jobs without hesitation that he would have to think twice about. But Happy knew the longer they didn't hear from her, the less chance he would see her ever again.

So for now, they waited. The club was still on lockdown. Families were getting anxious, but it would be even worse when they found out one of their own was missing too.

"Has anyone heard from Juice?" Chibs asked as he walked into the garage. All the other members stood around.

"Can't get ahold of him?" Bobby asked. Juice was known to disappear for days at a time, but during times like this, it wasn't safe for anyone to be alone.

"His cell goes straight to voicemail. I went to his place. Called everyone I could think of. No one has seen or heard from him," Chibs explained.

"Do you think he could be on one of his rides?" Jax asked, sounding hopeful.

"He's with Ophelia," Clay spoke up.

"What?" Jax asked. "How do you know?"

"Cause I asked him to keep an eye on her," Clay snapped.

"Why?" Happy rasped. Everyone looked at him in surprise. Hap had never questioned Clay. "Cause you can't trust her? She's family."

"She ain't been my family for years," Clay yelled.

Jax signed, dragging his hand down his face. "Either way, we got problems. Leela and Juice are missing."

* * *

She was really starting to regret coming back to Charming. Stirring up forgotten history was one thing, but getting locked in an office at an abandoned warehouse was not what she had planned. Ophelia had claimed the comfy chair and thrown her feet up onto the desk. She had counted the ceiling tiles a dozen times since they had gotten locked up. They hadn't heard anything from any of the Horsemen.

Suddenly, the door swung open. Two Horsemen stood shoulder to shoulder looking very menicening.

"Welcome to our humble abode," Ophelia said, opening her arms wide. "I would give you a tour, but this place is a shit hole."

One of the Horsemen stalked over to her and forced her to her feet. Ophelia admired the very large tattoo on his neck as he pushed her up against the wall.

"Hey! Let her go!" Juice yelled.

"You killed my brother," the Horsemen said through his teeth, his eyes never leaving Ophelia.

"You're gonna have to narrow it down a little more," she smirked. "I've killed a lot of brothers."

He brought the back of his hand down across her face. "You're a little bitch."

A smile formed on her lips. "Tell me something I don't know."

She felt her ribs crack when his fist connected with her side. She slumped down the wall as she tried to catch her breath. Before she could even take a breath though, he started kicking her.

"Leave her alone!" Juice yelled.

The other Horsemen pointed his gun at Juice. "Shut up before I put a bullet in your head." Juice gulped and took a step back.

"When I'm finished with you, your friends won't even recognize you." He stood over Ophelia as she struggled to sit up.

"You must be so tough to be able to beat a woman while she's down," Ophelia said. "You must have a hard on."

He raised his hand to hit her.

"Simon!" Adam yelled from the door. "If you continue to hurt our guest, I'll let them do whatever they want to you." Simon looked down at Ophelia. "Get out before I change my mind, Si," Adam warned. "You're not worth it."

Simon let go of Ophelia completely and stumbled out of the room.

"So sorry about that," Adam said as he knelt down next to her. "But do you really blame him? Especially when you've killed so many of my men."

She flinched as she took a breath. "Maybe you should take that as a hint before I kill all of you."

The smile faded from Adam lips. "You better watch your mouth before it gets you in trouble." He stood up. "Things could get very bad for you, Lilith." He left with the other men, leaving Ophelia and Juice locked in the room alone again.

Juice scrambled over to her. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," she said through her teeth. "Have you ever put a shoulder back in?"

"What?" he asked, wide eyed.

"My shoulder is dislocated," she calmly. "You're gonna have to put it back in."

"O...okay," he said nervously.

"You can do it," she said giving him a smile. "Put your hand on my shoulder here. Keep pressure on it. Then pull my arm straight."

"Is it going to hurt?" Juice asked getting into position.

"You won't feel a thing," she said absentmindedly. "I, however, will feel shards of glass. Do it now before it gets swollen."

She closed her eyes and tried to think of anything else besides her shoulder. The loud pop was sickening, but the pain started to subside immediately.

"Can you help me take my jacket off?"

He helped her take her jacket off as gently as he could. His breath caught when he saw the scars that covered her back.

"How did you get those?" he asked before realizing it was rude.

She looked to see what he was talking about when she realized he was looking at her scars. They weren't something she was ashamed of. The incident that caused them had made her who she was, but that doesn't mean she liked talking about it.

"Somebody didn't like me very much."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked," he said, sitting back.

She sighed. "It's okay. It's not a very good story is all." She ran her fingers across her ribs. They were definitely cracked, but none of them felt out of place.

Juice was quiet as he watched her. "Did it happen while you were on a job?"

"No, it happened before I became a mercenary," she said while trying to get comfortable position.

"Do… do you have a plan to get out of here?"

She met his eyes. "Kill all of them."

* * *

Happy grabbed Rooster by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him to his feet. He dragged him out into the warehouse where the rest of the club was waiting.

"Hey, take it easy," Rooster complained as Happy forced him to his knees.

"Shut up," Happy grumbled.

Jax stood in front of Rooster while smoking a cigarette. "Did you set this up?"

"No, I didn't plan on being on my knees in front of a half a dozen guys," Rooster retorted.

Jax nodded to Happy who pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Rooster's head. "Either you tell us where your club is or we bury you in the woods," Jax said getting in his face.

"I can't tell you what I don't know."

Happy pushed his gun further into the side of Rooster's head. He was getting tired of this guy's bullshit. "Let's just kill him," Hap said, looking to Jax. "He either set us up or ratted out his own club. Either way, he deserves to die."

Jax looked to Chibs who just shrugged. Jax snubbed out his cigarette and gave a quick nod to Hap.

Happy readjusted his grip on his gun and started to pull the trigger. However, the ringing of his cell phone interrupted him. Finally, deciding to answer it, he fished out his phone from his pocket. His heart nearly stopped when he saw Ophelia's number across the screen.

He flipped open the phone and brought it to his ear. "Lily," he breathed.

"Lily?" a man's voice came through the phone. "What a sweet nickname for our little Lilith. She must be very important to you."

"Who are you?" Happy said through his teeth.

"I am Adam. I am the one who will kill your girl and mohawked little friend if you don't give me what I want."

Hap was about to tell that piece of shit to go to hell, but Jax snatched the phone out of his hand.

"Let them go!" Jax demanded.

"Oh, I can't do that," Adam said. "At least, not until you give me everything you have."

Jax ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. "I...I can't do that."

"Then you will never see them again."

"Wait!" Jax yelled. "I'll do anything. Just don't hurt her."

Adam laughed. "How interesting. You mention nothing of your own patched member, but you ask me not to hurt a woman who showed up to your clubhouse not that long ago," he mused. "Hopefully you change your mind, Mr. Teller, before it's too late."

The line went dead. Jax turned to face his club. All of them looking to him for answers. Once again, he had let them down.

"Jackie," Chibs said timidly.

"They're gonna kill them," he said barely above a whisper. "Unless we give them everything."

Upon hearing this, Happy lost all control. He always kept his cool in these types of situations, but the thought of losing Lily made his world fall apart. Without a second thought, he brought his pistol up to the side of Rooster's head and pulled the trigger. Rooster's body fell at Jax's feet.

"Jesus Christ, man," Tig muttered.

Jax started to go after Hap, but Chibs and Tig held him back. "We could have used him to find out where they're keeping them!" Jax yelled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"The only reason we got him talking before was because Ophelia got him talking," Hap said. "He set her up."

Kozik looked between Jax and Happy. Slowly, he stepped between them. "Come on, Hap. Let's get some air." Hap looked down at Kozik and slowly nodded. Koz led Happy away from Jax to give them time to cool down.

As soon as they got outside, Hap stormed over to the nearest tree and hit it. Pure rage flowed through his veins. He was going to kill every Horsemen he could get his hands on.

"Hey, hey," Kozik said, getting in between Hap and the tree. "Killing the tree ain't going to bring her back, man."

Hap push Koz away. "No, but killing those pieces of shit that took her will."

"We got to be smart about this, bro. One wrong move and we could get her killed."

Hap eventually nodded. Kozik was right. They couldn't do this blindly. "Do you have a plan?"

Kozik smirked. "What would Ophelia do?"

* * *

"Will you please stop talking to them like that?" Juice pleaded to Ophelia as she held a piece of her shirt to her bloody nose. "You can't talk much more."

"I'm fine," she forced. She would never admit that he was right, but she wasn't going to let them get anymore hits in. Besides the broken ribs and dislocated shoulder, her nose was broken. She had a nasty bump on her head. Her ankle was sprained. Not ot mention, she was bruised like a banana. She'd known that if she hadn't egged them on, they would have probably killed Juice.

"You don't look fine," Juice muttered.

The door to the room swung open once again. Adam stalked in draggin a brunette woman by the hair. Ophelia's heart stopped when he stopped in front of her.

"This is what happens when I don't get what I want," Adam yelled at Ophelia. He threw the girl into the corner and then left.

The girl pulled her legs up to her chest. When she finally pushed her hair out of her face, Juice let out a gasp.

"Tara?" Juice asked, slowly going towards her. "Tara, are you hurt?"

She finally looked up at them. Her cheeks stained with tears. She looked away from Juice to Ophelia. "What do they want?"

"To hurt Jax," Ophelia said, watching Tara carefully. "Were you leaving town when they grabbed you?" Tara's eyes flashed to Juice and then slowly nodded. "Did you at least listen to me about leaving the boys?"

Tara looked down. "They're with Gemma," she said quietly. "I just couldn't stay in Charming any longer."

Ophelia narrowed her eyes. "So getting yourself kidnapped was the better option?" Tara huffed and crossed her arms.

"Wait," Juice said, looking at Tara. "You left Jax? Does he know?" He looked to Ophelia when Tara doesn't answer.

"I don't think she would be here if Jax knew," Ophelia said.

Each of them went to their separate corners of the room. None of them saying anything. It was only a matter of time before Adam and the rest of the Horsemen came back.

Ophelia knew what was coming. She had been the one with the gun enough times. Not all of them were gonna make it out alive, if any of them did.

* * *

"Did you get a hold of anyone?" Kozik asked Happy quietly as he walked into the garage.

Hap gave a quick nod. "Just one. All of the other numbers were disconnected," he said. "Fuckin' mercenaries."

"Is he gonna help?" Koz asked urgently.

"She," he corrected. "And yeah, she's on her way."

"She?" Kozik questioned nervously. "Scarlett is coming?"

Hap smirked. "Yeah, your little deadly crush is coming to Charming." Shortly after Ophelia had become a mercenary, she had come back to Tacoma with this mysterious Scarlett in tow. Kozik had fallen head over heels for the female mercenary.

"God help us," Kozik muttered under his breath.

Happy rolled his eyes. "We need all the help we can get if we want to find Lily."

Kozik watched as Happy struggled to light his cigarette. "I miss her too, you know."

"You're not the one who asked her to come back," Hap grumbled. "I got her into this mess."

"She needed to come back to Charming, man. There's history she needs to face," Koz said getting closer to Hap. "She'll be okay, man. We'll get her back."

"What if she ain't whole? What if… what if we're too late?"

"Really, bro?" Kozik whispered. "You found her in a puddle of her own blood, half dead. If she can make it through that, she can do anything." He put his hand on Happy's shoulder. "She'll be okay."

* * *

 **So sorry for how long it's been between updates. Unfortunately, I probably won't be able to update again until after the New Year. I hope all of you have a good Holidays. Thank you to all of you who have let reviews. Every time I get a notification that someone left a review, I smile. You are all amazing!**


	12. Chapter 11

Never in a million years did Jax think he would ever see Ophelia again. But from the moment he had realized it was her that had waltzed back into his life, he didn't know how he ever lived without her. She had been everything to him when they were growing up. His best friend. His confidant. His love. His everything until Tara came into his life. Now, he had lost her again, and the only way he could get her back was to give up his club.

"Hey, Jax," Rat said timidly from the doorway. "We aren't expecting anyone, are we?"

"No, we shouldn't," he said slowly. "Who's here?"

"Well, that's the thing." Rat shifted his weight. "I don't want to assume anything, but there's someone at the gate who looks a lot like Ophelia."

"What?" Jax said, not believing what he heard. Before Rat could say anything, Jax took off out of the chapel to the front gate.

"It's a chick on a bike," Rat explained as he tried to catch up with Jax.

Happy, Kozik, and Tig came out of the garage to see what was going on. Jax stopped in between Hap and Kozik.

"Is it… it Leela?"

"No," Happy grumbled as the gate opened and the girl rode in.

"It's Scarlett," Kozik added. They all watched her park and dismount her bike.

"Quit ogling boys," she said once she had taken off her helmet and shaked out her red hair.

"Who the hell is Scarlett?" Tig asked.

"Watch it, Trager. She's mine," Kozik said through his teeth.

Tig started to open his mouth to retort but Happy shot him a look just as Scarlett walked up to him.

"Happy," Scarlett said, giving him a short nod. "Any news?"

"No."

"Well, while you were playing with each other's dicks, I got a meeting with the Devil's Horsemen president."

"How did you do that?" Happy questioned.

"There's a reason why people hire me."

"Who the hell are you?" Jax asked finally.

Scarlett put her hands on her hips. "The only person who can get Ophelia back apparently," she said. "Now, if you don't mind, I would like to get my friend back in one piece."

Jax got in front of her as she tried to head into the clubhouse. "Who do you think you are? You can't just come in here like you own the place."

"You want me to leave? Cause I'll leave right now," Scarlett said, narrowing her eyes. "You need me a hell of a lot more than I need you. I can get them back, while you would just get back pieces."

"Jackie," Chibs said in Jax's ear. "I think we should let her do what she needs to do." Jax looked at him like he was going crazy. "If she can help us get Ophelia and Juice back, then what's it going to hurt?"

"How can we trust her? We don't even know her. How the hell did she even know to come here?" Jax questioned.

"I called her," Happy spoke up.

"We called her," Kozik corrected. He wasn't going to let Happy take all the credit.

Jax looked between Happy and Kozik in disbelief. "Why the hell would you do that? We were handling it."

"Fucking bullshit," Happy said. "They've had them for two days, and we've done nothing! I called her six hours ago and she already has a meet set up."

Jax opened and closed his mouth several times. He never thought he would be undermined by one of his own men, especially Happy. He had always been one of his most loyal men.

"Fine," Jax sighed. He looked to Scarlett. "When's the meet?"

"Midnight. Fairfield Park," Scarlett said, folding her arms.

"That gives four hours to prepare," Bobby said.

"Can someone point me in the direction of a bathroom because I need to clean up?" Scarlett said, glancing to each of the men surrounding her.

"I got it," Kozik said, quickly coming to Scarlett's side.

Scarlett held back a chuckle. "Of course you do, Herman." She followed him into the clubhouse.

* * *

None of them had said a word to each in at least three hours. Tara and Juice were scared. They had every right to be. Ophelia knew it was only a matter of time before Adam killed one of them. In fact, she was surprised they had lasted this long.

She chuckled to herself when she realized that she was probably gonna die doing a job for SAMCRO. All because some dumbass had followed her to a meet.

"What could you possibly be laughing at?" Tara said, sounding like she was on the verge of tears.

"Just thinking about how the hell I got here." She glance to Juice. "All because someone had to follow me. Why were you following me?"

Juice looked up nervously. "Oh, um… Clay told me to keep an eye on you. He said we couldn't trust you."

Ophelia rolled her eyes. "Figures," she mumbled. "Of course he would be the reason I'm in this fucking situation."

"What do you mean by that?" Tara asked.

Ophelia looked at Tara. What was it going to hurt telling them the kind of person Clay is; they were all gonna die soon anyways. "Clay killed my father."

Tara narrowed her eyes. "You're lying."

Ophelia's eyes flashed with anger. "You know what he's capable of more than anyone, or have you forgotten that he tried to have you killed too."

"How...how do you know about that?"

"I know about everything that has happened," Ophelia said darkly.

Tara shut her mouth and shrank back into the corner. Ophelia leaned back. Man, she could really use a smoke. Maybe she could bum one off a Horsemen before they kill her.

As if on cue, the door opened and Adam waltzed in once again. He looked to each one of his prisoners. He clapped his hands together. "Who's ready for a little field trip?"

Getting a bag put over your head and then thrown in to a back of a van was not one of the activities Ophelia thought she would be doing when she came to Charming. The further they drove, the more she started to accept that she wasn't going to walk away from this.

Her thoughts drifted to Happy. She didn't blame him for asking her to come to Charming. She should've listened to him when he told her not to go the meet alone. When Happy's being the voice of reason, you know you should listen.

The van came to a stop and they were dragged out. Each of them were forced to their knees side by side. As soon as the bag was pulled from her head, Ophelia took in her surroundings. They had brought them to the woods. There wasn't any city lights in sight. A perfect place to finish the job.

Ophelia looked to her right where Tara was crying so hard she was shaking. On the other side of Tara was Juice. He didn't even look like he was present; all he was doing was staring at the ground.

"We're gonna play a little game," Adam grinned as he paced in front of them. "Who means the most to Jax Teller? Winner gets a hole in the head." He stopped at Juice. "We have the Son who ratted out his own club. Honestly, I don't know why they've kept you alive." Adam moved on to Ophelia. "Then we have the mercenary who supposedly just met the club, but when talking to Teller, he only asked about you." Lastly, he stood in front of Tara. "Finally, we have Jax's old lady and mother of his children."

Ophelia closed her eyes, waiting. It wasn't hard to figure out how connected she really was to the club. How much history she had with the Sons, let alone with Jax. She heard Tara's sobs become louder. Ophelia opened her eyes to see Adam looking at Tara.

"Clearly, the winner is obvious," he grinned.

"Please, no," Tara begged. "My boys need me."

Adam smirked. He motioned to his men. Ophelia stiffened when she felt a barrel of a gun at the back of her head. She closed her eyes once again. This was it. She was okay with dying. She was just a disappointed that she was going to go out this way.

She waited for it. She knew she wasn't going to feel anything, let alone hear the gunshot that was gonna kill her. So when she heard the gunshot, she slowly opened her eyes. She saw Adam first. He was smirking at her. Then she looked to her right.

Her breath caught when she saw Tara. She was faced down in the leaves. Her brown hair spread out around her. The blood soaking into the earth.

Adam knelt down in front of Ophelia. "Tell Jax Teller that I'll burn Charming to the ground if he doesn't give me everything."

* * *

Happy paced back and forth as they waited. It was over an hour past the time the Horsemen said to meet. The rest of the guys couldn't sit still either. Actually, the only one who wasn't on their feet was Scarlett. She was laying on her bike staring up at the night sky. Happy couldn't understand how she could just sit there. Lily was one of her best friends. However, Death Dealers tended to not get close with each other.

"What could you possibly be looking at?" Happy grumbled to her.

"The stars," she said calmly. "I haven't been anywhere you could see them in a very long time."

"Aren't you worried about Lily?" he questioned.

Scarlett glanced to Happy. "Lilith? Nah, she knows what she's doing. Not to mention, if they were to kill her, there would be an open contract on every Devil's Horsemen."

"That doesn't keep her alive."

Scarlett sat up and looked him over. "Something's changed about how you feel about her. She's not just family to you anymore," she guessed. Happy looked away quickly. "Do you love her?" she teased.

"Shut up," he said through his teeth.

A smile spread across her face. "You're good for her."

Happy rolled his eyes and looked up towards the sky. He remembered as a kid his mom would point out the different constellations and tell him the names of the stars. It was years later when he realized she had been making everything up.

A twig snapped off in the woods. Scarlett jumped to her feet while Happy scanned the tree line for any sign of movement.

"Do you see anything?" Scarlett whispered, her hand resting on her gun.

"No." It was just a half a second later when he saw them.

They stumbled out of the bushes together. The only reason Ophelia was still on her feet was because Juice was supporting all of her weight. Happy was over to her before he even knew what he was doing. She collapsed into his arms.

"Lil? Lily?" he said, brushing her hair away from her face. She looked like hell. Her nose was broken. Both of her eyes were bruised, and she had dried blood on most of her face.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Hap. Glad you could make it."

"Jesus Christ," Jax muttered, looking her over. "What the hell happened to her?" He looked ot Chibs who was staring at Ophelia. "Find Tara."

Ophelia held onto Happy a little tighter as she tried to stand up straight. "Jax," she said loud enough to get his attention. He finally looked to her. "Tara's dead."


	13. Chapter 12

"What did you say?" Jax said slowly.

Lily swallowed hard. "Tara's dead, Jax." She lost her balance, but Happy quickly caught her.

"You're lying," Jax accused.

She took a deep breath and held onto Happy a little tighter. "Why the hell would I lie about that?"

"She can't be dead," he muttered. "You're fucking lying to me!" He stated towards her.

Happy quickly put himself between Jax and Lily.

"Get out of my way," Jax said through his teeth.

Happy stared him down. "Not going to happen."

"I am your goddamn president!"

"You touch her and you won't be," Happy threatened. He felt Lily wrap her fingers around his arm. Reluctantly, he took his eyes off of Jax for a moment and looked back at Lily.

"It's okay, Hap," she said firmly. She went around him and stood before Jax. He looked like he would hit her at any moment. "Jackson," she whispered. "I wouldn't lie about this. I could never do that to you." She reached out to take his hand. "I'm sorry I'm the one that has to tell you this, but she's dead, Jax. I saw it myself."

"She… she can't be dead," he cried.

He fell into her arms. Lily struggled to stay upright with his weight. However, she knew he needed to be comforted.

"Jackie boy," Chibs said, placing his hands gently on Jax's shoulders. "Come here." He steered him away from Lily.

Lily gave Chibs a small smile in gratitude. She turned back to Bobby and the rest of the club. "We need to get the fuck out of here before they come back."

Bobby nodded in agreement. "Tig, Hap, go find Tara's body."

"I'm not leaving Lily," Hap said.

"I'll go," Opie said, stepping up.

Bobby grumbled something under his breath. "Fine. Happy, take Ophelia and Scarlett back to the clubhouse."

"Done," Happy said before lifting Lily into his arms.

"Woah," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "No need to be so romantic, Hap."

"You can barely stand. I don't want your face looking worse than it already is," he grumbled as he carried her to the van.

Lily chuckled. "I haven't looked in a mirror recently, but I highly doubt my face could get any worse." He sat her down in the van and stared at her. "If you're gonna keep staring, can you at least give me a cigarette?"

"You promised me you would be okay going alone."

He stood over her, arms crossed. If she didn't know him as well as she did, she would be a little intimidated by him. "Can we just go and get cleaned up? I'll tell you everything that happened after that."

He swallowed hard. "Fine." He left her to get into the driver's seat.

Scarlett climbed in and shut the door behind her. She sat down next to Lily. "You look like shit," she said suddenly.

Both of them started laughing. Lily grimaced in pain. "What are you talking about? I look fucking great." Scarlett rolled her eyes. "How the hell did they get you here?"

Scarlett smiled and nodded towards Happy who was focused on driving. "He was very worried about you. I've never heard him panic like that," she whispered.

Lily put her head against the cool metal of the van. "I didn't think I was gonna make it out of there," she admitted. "The first job I didn't think I was gonna see the other side of." She looked Scarlett in the eye. "It's worse than I thought."

"We're gonna finish this even if we have to do it our way."

Lily nodded. The thing about Death Dealers is that if you fuck with one of them, they all take it personally.

* * *

There was a crowd waiting outside when the van stopped in front of the clubhouse. Gemma, of course, stood front and center. Happy parked the van and immediately came to help Lily out of the van.

"Jesus Christ," Gemma muttered once she got a good look at Lily. "Is everyone else whole?"

Happy didn't respond. He only thought of getting Lily inside and patching her up. However, Lily and Scarlett shared a look as the matriarch continued to hound them with questions.

"The other guys will tell you if you need to know," Scarlett said finally.

"No," Gemma said stubbornly. She grab Scarlett's arm in a desperate attempt. "You have tell me what's going on right now."

Scarlett pulled her arm away from Gemma. "I don't have to do shit. I'm not part of your family."

Gemma looked to Happy in question, but he was too focused on Lily that he wasn't paying any attention to Gemma or the people around them. Gemma reluctantly stepped back to let them pass.

The three of them walked straight through the clubhouse to the dorms. They went into Happy's dorm room. He sat Lily gently on the bed while Scarlett closed the door. Hap stayed by her side as Scarlett rummaged through her bag.

"I'm gonna give you a shot of morphine," Scarlett said as she pulled out a syringe and a small glass bottle.

"Shit," she mumbled. "You know I hate how that stuff makes me feel."

"Yeah, and you're just feeling fantastic now, right?" Scarlett said.

Lily watched as Scarlett stuck the needle in her arm. Even though she hated the effects of the drug, she welcomed the numbing.

"Tell me what happened," Happy demanded once Scarlett started to look Lily over.

"What do you think happened? They beat the shit out of me." Happy gave her an unamused look causing Lily to sigh. "The meet was going as well as expected. They weren't interested in anything I offered, but I don't think they had any intention of taking me. Their president knows about Death Dealers and the consequences of hurting one."

"What made them take you then?" Scarlett asked.

"They found Juice following me. They thought I was double crossing them." She shook her head in disbelief. "All because Clay couldn't keep his nose out of my business."

"Why does Clay have it out against you?" Happy asked. He knew there wasn't any love between them. "It's been years since he's even seen you."

"Clay has always had it out for me," she said. She hissed when Scarlett hit a tender spot on her ribs.

"When are you going to tell me the truth about everything that's going on here?" Happy said evenly.

"It's not that easy."

"Then explain it to me!" he yelled. "Tell me why you've avoided coming to Charming for so long. Tell me why Clay has it out for you?" He stared her down. Neither one of them moving.

Scarlett was the first one to make a move. "Um, I need to get some clean water," she said, eyeing both of them carefully. "Both of you better be alive when I get back." She left the room making sure the door was closed all the way behind her.

"It's hard to explain everything that has happened. And why it happened," Lily said slowly. "I've told you before that I know things that will change how you think of the club."

"You're the reason I'm in the club, Lil. If there's a reason you don't trust the club, I want to know."

She still wasn't sure if she should tell him. The club was his life. His loyalty to the Reaper came first. What she knew would either make him hate her or hate the club.

"My father raised me to take over the club. JT thought it was great to change the way the club was going. Clay wasn't jumping for joy about the idea. As I got older, I dealt with more business with the club. I remember I was around 16 when SAMCRO came up to Tacoma to help with some business. I rode along like usually," she said, explaining it the best she could. "Clay lost his mind. He started spewing sexist bullshit. How women belonged in the kitchen, and they need to keep their fragile selves out of club business. Thankfully, JT and Isaiah shut that shit down and put Clay in his place.

"Shortly after that, JT died, and then Isaiah died a year and a half later. When my dad died, he left all of his journals and letters to me. Most of it was just day to day shit. But then I came across a letter from JT. It was after that job in Tacoma with SAMCRO. He felt that Clay was betraying him. He already knew that Gemma was having an affair with him. It came to a point where Clay wasn't supporting JT whatsoever. He found something wrong with his bike one week. The next he was hit by a semi.

"My dad knew that it had been Clay that sabotage JT's bike. He started pressing Clay. Pressing him too hard apparently because the next week Isaiah gets sent to prison because someone tipped off a border patrol agent. A couple days before he was to be released, he gets stabbed. 15 years later, here we are."

Happy was quiet. "Are you saying that Clay killed JT and Isaiah?" he asked finally.

"I'm saying he's the one that hired that prisoner to kill my dad and forced Lowell Sr. to sabotage JT's bike."

He thought over everything carefully. Things started to make sense. "Why haven't you ever told me?"

"I've known about what happened to JT's bike for years, but there was no proof besides my dad's journals. I had no proof about anything until about a month ago. The guy who killed Isaiah finally got released from prison; I was able to question him. After that, it was pretty easy to put two and two together."

"We need to tell Jax," Happy said going to the door.

"We will," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him back to her side. "But we need to deal with the Horsemen first before they kill all of us."

Happy gritted his teeth. He knew she was right, but he couldn't stand letting Clay get away with it any longer. He wasn't sure how she hadn't killed Clay when she first showed up in Charming. Actually, he knew why. She had better self control than he did.

"Clay will pay for what's he's done. Whether it's by my hand or by someone else, Clay will get what's coming," she said as she laid back down on the bed.

He sat down next to her. "What are we gonna do?"

"For now, I just want to sleep," she said. "Tomorrow we'll get a plan together." She carefully got comfortable underneath the covers.

Happy stayed quiet. He crossed his arms over his chest. He was not letting her out of his sight after everything that has happened.

* * *

Lily woke up several hours later. Happy was still laying next to her, but his arm was protectively around her waist. He was passed out. She was sure he hadn't gotten any sleep the last few days. If she knew him at all, he probably didn't even sit down the entire time she was gone.

She carefully slid out from underneath his arm, trying not to wake him. He needed as much sleep he could get. Lily pulled one of Happy's SAMCRO shirts over her and made her way out of the dorm.

The clubhouse was quiet. The sun was starting to peek through the windows. She must have slept for only a few hours. The kitchen was empty thankfully. She went up on her toes to reach the glasses on the top shelf. She hissed when a sharp pain in her ribs reminded her of the events from the days before.

"Let me get that for you," a Scottish voice said from behind her.

Chibs slid past her and easily got a glass for her. He started to give her the glass but stopped when he saw the bruises on her face. "Jesus Christ, what did they do to you?" he whispered. He brushed his fingertips across her cheek bone.

Lily faced him. She remembered when he first came over from Ireland. She had such a crush on him. He was handsome even with his scars, and his accent made her swoon. He barely even gave her a second look, or so she thought.

"I've looked worse," she said smiling slightly. "What are you doing up so early?"

"It happens when you don't go to sleep," he mumbled as he went towards the coffee pot. "Everyone is a bit on edge at the moment."

Her eyes went to the Reaper on his back. It's eyes staring at her. "How's Jax doing?" she asked.

"Bout as well as expected," he said, turning back to her. "He doesn't blame you for what happened to her."

Lily looked down at the glass in her hands. "It didn't seem that way a few hours ago."

"He didn't even know she had left the clubhouse. So saying that Tara was dead blind sighted him a bit."

"She was the mother of his children and his wife. I would be concerned if he wasn't angry." She pushed away from the counter and started back towards the dorm.

"Ophelia," Chibs called to her causing her to stop. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Me too," she smiled. She headed back towards Happy's dorm, but stopped when she saw Juice coming out of the bathroom. He looked better than the last time she had seen him.

"Hey," he said, giving her a shy smile. "Can you not sleep either?"

She shrugged her shoulders and instantly regretted it. "Sleep has never been one of my strong suits," she explained.

"Every time I close my eyes I see Tara," he told her.

She placed her hand on his arm to comfort him. "As time goes on, it will get easier, unfortunately."

"Do you ever have problems sleeping after…" he faded off, unsure how to ask.

"After I kill someone?" she finished for him. "Most of the time I don't, but I've been doing it for a long time."

Juice chewed on his lip. He wanted to ask her how long she had been doing it and how many deaths were on her arms, but he thought better of it. He already knew she was dangerous. He'd seen that much from her the last couple of weeks. Especially when she hadn't even blinked twice the night before.

"I'm gonna try to get some more sleep," Lily said. "You should do the same, Juice."

She slipped back into Happy's dorm room. Surprisingly, Happy was still sleeping. Once the door shut behind her, she leaned back against the door. She stared at Happy. Something had changed between them. Lily wasn't sure how to explain it. She only knew that the entire time the Horsemen had her, she wanted Happy by her side.

She pushed away from the door finally. She crawled up next to Happy on the bed and relaxed against his body. Automatically, he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

"Where did you go?" he whispered in her ear.

"Kitchen," she mumbled before drifting back to sleep.

* * *

 **A/N: Sooo I suck at updating. Life got in the way of me writing, and I didn't make time for it. But I plan on making time now. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm already working on the next one; so hopefully you won't have to wait as long.**


	14. Chapter 13

The clubhouse was quiet later that morning. The only murmurings were about the body that had been brought back in the middle of the night. It hadn't taken very long for them to realize that it had been Tara Knowles. Speculation had run wild as to what happened to her. The only people that really knew what happened to her were patched members of the club and Lily and Scarlett.

Happy and Lily had a slow start to their morning. Neither of them wanted to leave the comforts of their bed. Lily knew she was going to get questioned by everyone about what happened the last few days. To be honest, she wasn't really sure what happened.

They had taken her and Juice, and the Horsemen and beaten the shit out of them. However, they hadn't questioned them once about what SAMCRO's plans were. Their capture had served no purpose other than being witnesses to Tara's murder.

Lily was thankful Happy hadn't questioned her any further about anything. He had just been his usual quiet self as he helped her get dressed, but she could see the wheels turning as he thought about everything. She watched his face overcome with concern when she flinched as she tweaked her shoulder the wrong way.

"I'm fine, Happy," she muttered as she pulled away from him.

"And I'm the queen of England," he said, rolling his eyes.

She was about to give him the bird when there was a knock at the door. Happy waited until Lily was decent before opening the door.

Jax stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets. The dark circles under his eyes showed that he hadn't slept at all, and by the smell of him, he had spent the night with a bottle of whiskey.

"Can I talk to Ophelia?" Jax asked.

She knew he was serious when he used her full name. So when Happy looked to her in question, she gave a short nod.

Happy reluctantly started to leave. Lily wasn't in the best shape to protect herself if Jax decided that it was her fault that Tara was dead. He grabbed his cut off the back of the chair and kissed Lily on the cheek. "Yell if you need anything," he told her.

He started to slip past Jax but got stopped.

"I'm sorry I forced you to chose the club or Ophelia last night," Jax apologized. "I've been there before, and I promised myself that I would never make one of my brothers do that."

Happy nodded. "She's a lot prettier than you are, Prez," he said grinning.

Jax forced a smile. "Yeah, she is." He patted Hap on the shoulder as he passed. Once he was gone, Jax shut the door. "So you and Happy, huh?"

There wasn't any hostility in the question like she would have expected. "Everyone seems to think so, but I think I missed the memo," she said.

"He was gonna get you back; even if that meant he was gonna have to kill every Horsemen himself," Jax said as he walked over to Lily. He sat down on the bed next to her. "I'm sorry, Leela, for getting in your face last night."

"It's understandable, Jax," she said, taking his hand in hers. "I'm sorry about Tara."

"She was leaving me when they took her, wasn't she?" He asked. She nodded. "I knew she was trying to leave me. It was only a matter of time," he said. "Just didn't think it would end this way." He shrugged his shoulders. "I'm just glad she didn't take the boys with her when she tried to leave town. I can't imagine what the Horsemen would've done to them."

Lily chewed on her lip. "She didn't take them because I told her not to," she admitted.

"What are you talking about?"

"She was asking me how I got away from the club, and I may have told her that if she did try to leave, she better not take the boys because you would probably kill her."

Jax was silent. Tara had been the love of his life since he was a teenager. He thought he was so lucky when she came back to Charming. She had given him a brand new look on life. She was an amazing mom to Able and gave him Thomas, but his love for his boys and surpassed his love for her. Leela was right when she said that he would kill Tara if she tried to take his boys from him.

"Thank you, Leela," he whispered. "I'm not sure if we would all be here still if you hadn't come when you did." He put his arm around her and pulled her to his side. "Tell me what happened with the Horsemen."

She launched into telling everything that had happened since she left to meet the Horsemen. He was quiet. He didn't ask any questions. He just sat there and listened to what she had to say.

"After he shot Tara, he wanted me to tell you that he was gonna burn Charming to the ground if you don't give him everything," she said, her story coming to an end.

Jax stayed quiet. He rubbed his hands together in thought. "I just don't understand how a MC that just runs drugs and guns for the cartel can be this powerful. We do the same kind of thing and we're no where near as powerful."

It hit her. It hit her harder than a freight train. She couldn't believe that she hadn't thought of this before. She stood up and kissed Jax. "You are a genius."

Jax sat there stunned. "What are you talking about?"

"The cartel," she said simply. She couldn't take the smile off her face. "I need to talk with Alvarez."

* * *

Most of SAMCRO sat in an empty parking lot outside of Stockton waiting for the Mayans. Jax had left Tacoma in charge at the clubhouse. They hadn't tried to conceal where they were going, knowing the Horsemen where gonna follow them no matter what.

"Why does she want to meet with Alvarez so bad?" Tig asked Jax as they waited on their bikes.

"Not sure," Jax shrugged as he smoked his cigarette. He watched Lily as she sat on the hood of her black BMW with Scarlett. She had already smoked a whole pack of cigarettes.

"You sure this a good idea?" Chibs asked. "When Alvarez saw her, he didn't seem to happy that we were working with her."

"That's because he knew what she was capable of," Happy spoke up.

They heard the Mayans' motorcycles before they saw them. When they came into sight, Lily stood in front of the Sons along side Jax.

"You gonna tell me what's going on in that head of yours?" Jax whispered to her as they waited for the Mayans to park their bikes.

Lily smiled at him. "You said it yourself, Jax. Take away the cartel from the Devil's Horsemen and they're nothing."

It dawned on Jax that she was right. "But how are the Mayans gonna help with that? They deal with Galindo, not the Castillo cartel."

"For now," she said before Alvarez began walking towards them with his men.

Alvarez took off his sunglasses as he in front of them. "Jax," he greeted. "You sounded urgent on the phone."

"Shit's bad, man," Jax said.

"Why is she here?" Alvarez nodded towards Lily.

"She's here because she has an idea of how to get out of this mess," Jax explained. Alvarez shook his head. "Look, they killed the mother of my sons. I am gonna do whatever I can to put every single Devil's Horsemen in the ground."

"Including working with a Death Dealer."

Lily stepped forward. "I know you don't trust me. I'm the mercenary that has done jobs for your bosses as well as other cartels," she said. "These guys are ruthless. Once they're done with the Son's, they'll come after every Mayan." She looked at Jax and then the rest of the club. "These guys are my family. I may not have been around the last 15 years, but I will not let them be wiped out by some other fucking club." She looked back to Alvarez.

Alvarez was quiet. Ophelia was pretty sure she had scared him off, but then he stepped closer to her and Jax. "What's the plan?" he asked. Alvarez looked to Jax and then Jax looked to Ophelia in question.

"It's not gonna be easy," she said breathing a sigh of relief. "We're gonna need Galindo on our side as well."

"He doesn't get involved with club business," Alvarez said quickly.

She smiled. "What if it involves the Castillo cartel pushing in on Galindo's territory?"

He hesitated. "I haven't heard anything about that..."

"That's because the Sons are the only thing standing of the way of everything you know disappearing," Lily said. "If we can get Galindo to help us, we can guarantee to knock out the thorns in all of our sides."

Alvarez looked to Jax in question. Jax shifted his weight. "We need your help, Marcus," he pleaded. "I don't know how much more my men can take. We need to finish this fast before there's none of us left."

"I'll have to make a call," Alvarez said, pulling out his phone. Jax stepped away to give some space, but Lily stayed put.

"If he needs some convincing," she whispered. "Let him know that Lilith will owe him a great debt." She didn't want Jax or anyone else in the club to know that she was offering herself as part of the deal.

Alvarez gave a short nod before walking back to his men to make the call to Galindo. Lily went back to where the Sons all stood.

"So is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?" Tig asked.

"We're trying to get the Mayans and Galindo to help us take out the Horsemen," Lily simplified. There was a whole lot more to it than that, but until she knew more, that's all they needed to know.

"So we're getting in bed with the cartel again, even after it went so well the first time," Opie said.

"We're not getting in bed with anyone," Jax said firmly. "We're just getting help taking out the Devil's Horsemen."

Nobody was really convinced by that. They all knew what happens you get help from a Mexican cartel. What they didn't know was that Lily was gonna do everything she could to make sure that the Sons of Anarchy owed nothing to anyone.

Alvarez walked back to Jax. "Galindo wants a sit down," he said. "He needs to know what your plan is." He looked at Lily. "He will be calling you in a day to set a meet."

She nodded. "Got it." She held out her hand to Alvarez to shake. Alvarez looked at it and then reluctantly shook it.

He nodded towards Jax and walked back towards his bike and his men. Jax came to stand next to Lily. Both of them stood together as they watched the Mayans ride away.

"What do we do now?" Jax asked.

"Now we gather as much information as we can about the Horsemen and the Castillo cartel and come up with some sort of a plan before Galindo calls tomorrow."

He gently takes her arm. "What if they don't help us?"

"Then we will find another way," she said. "Come on. We need to get back to the clubhouse. We have a lot of shit to work on."

* * *

 **A/N Note: Yay, two updates in one month! I'm on a roll. Would love to hear what you guys think!**


	15. Chapter 14

Lily sat up at the bar. In her left hand, she toyed with a glass of whiskey as she waited for one of her contacts to pick up the phone. It had been a long day, but she had gotten a lot of useful information. The notebook in front of her was full of the information she had learned. She still wasn't comfortable enough to meet with Galindo just yet though. She was going to make sure that Galindo couldn't say no to them.

Everyone else was doing as much as they could. Juice, with the help of Scarlett, was trying to hack into any database that could give them any useful information. Turns out, they had local law from Texas all the way to Arizona on their side. It was gonna be hard if the bad guys also had the good guys on their side.

Jax sat at the head of the table as he watched Lily at the bar. The gavel twisting in his hands. Suddenly, she started speaking Spanish incredibly fast and writing in her notebook equally as fast. He realized she wasn't the same girl he grew up with. She had been tough, never one you wanted to cross while growing up, but now she was powerful. She had a world of information in her hands that he couldn't even begin to imagine.

"What do you think she's saying?" Chibs asked his president.

Jax looked to Chibs who sat to his left. Both of them were feeling pretty useless at the moment. They had exhausted their means already. "She's probably telling them to stick it where the sun doesn't shine," Jax chuckled. He was trying to play it cool, but he was terrified that this wasn't going to work. That they were all gonna end up buried in the desert if they weren't careful.

"Thank god we have her on our side," Chibs sighed. He rub his hand down his face. "I would hate to be on her wrong side."

"Unfortunately, I have a bad feeling that we might end up on the receiving end of her," Jax said. Chibs looked at him in question. "She's keeping something from us, and I think it's pretty bad."

"What makes you think that?"

Jax licked his lips. "She won't tell me why she stayed away from Charming. Every time I ask her, she just says that if she tells me, it will change the club."

"What do you think it is about?" Chibs asked.

Jax shrugged. "She stopped coming around not long after her dad died. It might have something to do with that."

"Didn't she used to say that she was gonna patch up? Maybe after Isaiah died, Clay made sure that didn't happen," Chibs offered.

Jax shrugged his shoulders again. "Whatever it is, it isn't good. She isn't one to keep something from someone just to spare their feelings."

"Somebody get me a fucking map," Lily yelled suddenly. She continued to write furiously in her notebook. She didn't even look up when someone slid the map in front of her. She just started marking spots on the map.

"Maybe if we make it through this, we'll find out what she's keeping from us," Jax said forcing a smile. His attention went back to Lily at the bar.

"Muchas gracias, Juan," she said before hanging up. She turned to Jax with a big smile on her face. "I think we got this."

* * *

The club all sat at the chapel table. The map laid out in front of them. Lily stood next to Jax at the head of the table. "They've done a pretty good job at making us think that they have guys everywhere," she said. She couldn't contain her smile. They were gonna make it out of this. "My contact let me in on a little secret of there's." Everyone looked up from the map to her. "Their guys are spread thin." She dragged her finger across the map where she had marked it. "They move a lot giving the appearance that there are more of them."

"What if your contact is just telling you that to set us up?" Bobby speculated.

"I've been paying for his daughter to go to college," she explained. "He would be very stupid if he decided to cross me."

"You're paying for her school?" Chibs questioned.

She shrugged. "I'm giving back to the community." Her attention went back to the map. "The Horsemen have clubhouses where there is a green mark on the map. All of their safe houses are marked in red."

"That's only a handful of places," Jax said.

Lily nodded. "Their numbers come from their nomad charters."

"What about the Castillo cartel?" Opie asked. "How are gonna take them out?"

Lily grinned. "That's the best part," she said. "The Horsemen are meeting with Castillo in two days to get their shipments for the month. All of them are going to be in one spot for the taking."

The whole club started to realize why she was so happy. They could finally finish this.

"I want to take this to Rooster to see if I can get some reaction from him to be sure," she said rolling up the map. She wasn't going to let the map or her notes out of her sight.

"Um, about that..." Jax trailed off. No one had told her that Rooster was buried in the woods now.

She looked at everyone at the table. "You're fucking serious. You guys couldn't keep him alive for two days?"

"Blame it all on the Killer," Tig said trying not to smile. "He's the one who put a bullet in that poor chicken's head."

She crossed her arms and looked at Happy. "No surprise there," she said shaking her head. She looked back to Jax. "Now, we make sure we got our shit together and wait for Galindo to call."

* * *

Lily's phone finally rang a few hours later. As soon as she saw the number, she went back into the chapel. Jax noticed her quietly slip away from everyone and followed her. Her head snapped up when she heard the door close.

"It's Galindo," she said leaning against the table. Jax nodded to signal her to answer it.

"Hello," she answered.

"Miss Lilith," Galindo said smoothly. "I was surprised to hear that you were working with the Sons of Anarchy. Little below your pay grade, aren't they?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, the Sons and I have a long history."

He chuckled. "I'm very interested in what you have to say. I'll meet with you and Teller at 7 o'clock in Oakland. I'll send you the address."

The line went dead before she could say anything else. She sighed and threw her phone onto the table in frustration. Jax bounced on the balls of his feet in anticipation.

"He wants to meet with just you and I tonight at 7," she said. "He'll send me an address."

Jax let out a breath he had been holding. There was no other plan if Galindo wouldn't help them. "Jesus Christ," he muttered running his hands through his hair.

She went for door, but stopped at his side. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "We can do this," she said reassuring. Jax, though skeptical, nodded in agreement. "I'm gonna try to get some sleep before the meet."

"Thank you for helping. Not sure what we would be doing without you."

She smiled. "Probably still trying to get your truck back."

"Ha ha," he said dryly. He watched her leave and disappear towards the dorms.

Lily went into the room she shared with Happy. She sighed and fell back onto to the bed. They were one step closer to being finished with this mess, but if she knew anything about the MC life, that once one enemy is gone another one takes it's place.

She stared up at the ceiling. She couldn't wait until she would finally get to sleep in her own bed. Just the thought of how many croweaters had been fucked on the same mattress made her skin crawl.

The door to the room opened and Happy slipped in. She sat up on her elbows to get a better look at him. "Hey," she said, smiling at him.

"Hey," he said simply. "You did good work out there today."

"Thanks."

He didn't say anything. Before she knew what was happening, he was nearly on top of her. She could feel his breath on her face.

"Tell me that there's something going on between us. That I'm not just imagining this," he rasped.

Her breath caught. She had not been expecting this. Something had been brewing between them. She thought that maybe it wasn't just her imagination. But the kisses on the cheek and the over protectiveness told a different story. She slowly nodded. Her eyes fixed on Hap's lips.

"Say it," he forced.

She finally met his eyes. "There's something," she whispered.

He pushed her back onto the bed. His eyes never left hers. It felt like an eternity before his lips connected with hers. Her hands immediately went under his shirt. His muscles flexing under her touch. She let out a gasp when he pulled her top down exposing her breasts. Her back arched, pushing herself closer to Happy.

"Hap," she breathed against his lips. "If we don't stop now, we're not gonna stop." It felt so right what was happening between.

"Then shut up, woman," he growled. His head dipped down to her left tit causing Lily to let out a deep moan.

A knock at the door halted everything. "What?" Happy and Lily yelled in unison, both a little out of breath.

"Are you guys hungry?" Rat asked nervously. "Gemma made food."

"No!" both of them yelled together.

Having the moment ruined, Happy rolled off of Lily. "Fuckin son of a bitch," Lily muttered under her breath. "I'm going to kill him." Kozik was right about her needing to get laid. She was going to kill Rat. She stood up, fixed her clothing, and started for the door.

"Leave him," Happy said, grabbing her arm and pulling her to his chest.

She wasn't sure what was going on with him. He was never one for this sentimental bullshit. Maybe the shit going on with the Horsemen was making him go soft. The only way she would find out what was really going on in his head would be to straight up ask him.

"What do you want, Hap?" she asked. Her voice barely above a whisper. "Do you want like the whole white picket fence and the two kids? Because you know I can't give that to you."

"Jesus, Lil," he said stepping away from her. "You know that's not me. Fuck, I don't even know what I want out of this." He looked her in the eye. "I just know that I couldn't stand the thought of not having you in my life."

A smirk spread across Lily's face. "Gone soft, Hap?"

"Fuck off," he muttered in frustration as he went towards the door.

"Oh, come here," she said rolling her eyes. She pulled him back to her. She went up on her toes and kissed him. His hands rested on the curves of her hips. She pulled away; her eyes searching his face. "We can figure out whatever this is as we go."

* * *

Her arms wrapped around Jax's torso as they rode into Oakland. Her bike had not been seen since she had been taken by the Horsemen; so she had been subjected to riding bitch now. Not like she could ride on her own anyways. She could barely stand.

It was starting to get dark. If she was an other person, she would have been terrified to go into this neighborhood. Now, she was just terrified that they were gonna be followed and their entire plan was gonna go to shit.

They rode into the underground parking garage. A couple of Galindo's men stood next to the service door. Jax parked his bike. He got off and gave a hand to help Lily off the bike.

"Thanks," she sighed. She took off her helmet and put it on the bike next to Jax's. She looked at Galindo's men and then back to Jax. "Please let me do most of the talking. I know there is bad blood between you guys."

"Come on, Leela," Jax said. "Don't treat me like I'm stupid."

"Just please be civil," she said through her teeth. She didn't let him say anything else. She just walked to the door and waited for Galindo's men to open the door.

When she walked in, she was expecting a service room for the building, not a office area. Galindo sat behind a desk. A small smile appearing on his face when he acknowledge Lily and Jax.

"Jackson, Lilith," he said, standing. He walked around the desk to greet them.

"Miguel," Lily said, holding out her hand for him to shake. His hand was firm and he looked her in the eye.

He moved his attention to Jax. "It's nice that we are finally able to meet one another."

"Yeah, it's great," Jax said with a hint of sarcasm.

Lily resists the urge to smack Jax. "Are we gonna talk about what we actually came here for, or do you guys just wanna whip your dicks out to see who's bigger?"

Miguel chuckled. "Glad to see that you're still about business." He walks back to the other side of the desk. "I'm all ears."

Jax stands back as Lily pulls out the map out of her backpack and lays it across Galindo's desk. "We have our work cut out for us." She explains their plan. They knew where all the Horsemen and Castillo cartel were holed up, and they knew that the Devil's Horsemen were gonna be meeting with Castillo cartel. If the Sons had the help of the Mayans and the Galindo cartel, they would be able to take out all of them at once and open up a whole bunch of opportunities for everyone involved.

After Lily explains their plan, Galindo stayed quiet. His arms were crossed as he looked over the map. "Tell me why I should help you?"

"You know, I don't a reason other than once the Horsemen take out the Sons, they are gonna push in on Mayan territory. Which means you're gonna lose your partnership and all of your buyers to the competition. You might as well take out the problem before it get's too big for you to handle."

He pursed his lips. Jax was getting frustrated. He just wanted a yes or no answer. "Look, we can handle it on our own," Jax said. He grabbed Lily's arm. "Come on, Leela. Let's get out of here."

"I would like to talk to Lilith alone," Miguel said.

"We don't need their help," Jax said to her. "Let's just get out here."

"If you want to keep your club whole, shut up and let me handle this," she ordered. "Just give me a few minutes with him."

Jax snapped his mouth shut and stormed out the door.

"Familia," Miguel chuckled.

"Tell me about it," she said rolling her eyes. "Hardest job I've ever done is one that involves family."

Miguel smiled. "I will help you. Although, I do have a few stipulations." She nodded for him to continue. "For every man that I lose during this war, you owe me one favor. Anything I need, you will do it for me without question."

Without hesitation, she nods. "I'll do it." She would do anything for family.

"Then it's done," Miguel said. "We'll be in contact."

Lily let out breath of relief. She holds out her hand for him to shake in agreement. He takes her hand, but then pulls her closer to kiss her cheek.

"Looking forward to our business together," he whispered in her ear.

She nods. She gathers her things and then goes out to meet up with Jax outside. He was leaning against his bike smoking a cigarette. He stood up when he saw her. "It's done. He'll help us."

* * *

 **A/N: Wham! What will happen next? Will Hap and Lily be able to figure out what's going on between them? Will Jax and the rest of the club find out about the deal Lily had to make in order to get Galindo's help? And will Lily ever tell the club what Clay has done?**

 **In other news, I'm trying to update every other week. Is there a particular day that any of you would like it to be on? Also, I would like to be able to communicate with my readers more and maybe give some sneak peaks to what might happen next. I've been thinking of making a blog or something... I already have a tumblr, but with all the shit that's going on over there makes it unappealing. If you guys any suggestions for anything, please let me know. I'm super excited for what I have planned for this story, and I can't wait to let you guys see what happens next.**


	16. Chapter 15

Jax watched Lily climb off his bike once they got back to TM after the meet with Galindo. She hadn't said anything to him. He had wanted to ask what she had talked to Galindo about when he was out of the room, but she had just told him to go back to the garage. Now she looked like she had a million things on her mind. She set the helmet on the seat and started for the clubhouse.

"Leela," Jax called after her. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him. "Is everything good?"

She forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm just tired." She wasn't lying. She was exhausted. Every part of her wanted to sleep for a year, but her mind couldn't stop replaying the moment she agreed to Miguel's offer.

She was able to make it through the clubhouse without anyone noticing her. She didn't want to get questioned by everyone. She needed to think. She needed something to help her think clearly. She went to the bar for a beer, but instead found a bottle of jack on the counter. She took the whole bottle and headed for the roof away from everyone.

Lily sat underneath the stars. She took a swig from the bottle as she watched the lot below. Nobody knew how much trouble she could be in if shit went bad and she ended up owing her life to Galindo. Her life as a Death Dealer could be over.

She took a large swig from the bottle again. "How could I be so stupid?" she mumbled to herself. There was a reason the Death Dealers had a rule about working with family.

"If you can finish that whole bottle and still be upright." She looked over and saw Opie walking over to her. He sat down next to her. "I'm gonna be impressed."

She offered him the bottle. "I don't want to be upright after this."

He took it from her. "I thought Jax said that things went as planned during the meet?" He took a sip.

She laughed. "You could say that."

"Oh, I know that sarcastic laugh anywhere." He handed the bottle back to her. "What's going on?"

She took a drink again. "I fucked up. I let history get the better of me, and I made it personal." She shook her head in frustration.

"What happened?"

Lily snorted. "I can't tell you shit. You would end up getting yourself killed because you're all noble and shit."

Opie sighed. He knew how well she could her mouth shut, but that wasn't going to stop him from asking her about something else she's been keeping to herself. "You ever gonna be noble and shit and tell Jax about what Clay has done?"

"After we finish this with the Horsemen, I will." She looked back up at the stars. She could see them all clearly. "One demon at a time."

"What if something happens to you during this war?" he asked, drawing her attention back to him. "Jax will let him stay in the club. He will let that bastard get away with everything."

"If something does happen to me, let's just say I'm not the only person who knows what he has done." She brought the bottle back to her lips. When she brought the bottle down, she saw that it was already half empty.

"Tell me everything you know," Opie begged. "He needs to pay."

"He will," she promised. She took another shot from the bottle and stood up. She handed him the bottle of jack. She started to head down into the clubhouse.

She felt like she was letting everyone down. Someone was gonna get the short end of the stick, and she had a feeling it was gonna be her.

Lily slipped downstairs. She thought she had gone unnoticed once again, but two dark eyes watched her go back to the dorms.

Happy followed her back into his dorm. She hadn't realized he was following her yet. It was only when the door clicked behind her that she turned around to see him. He leaned against the door to his room. He made sure it was locked. He was gonna make sure they weren't gonna be disturbed tonight.

"Hap," she smiled. She sounded relieved. She couldn't take getting questioned by someone else.

"Haven't seen you since you got back."

"I needed time to think," she explained.

"And drink," he added for her. He could smell the whiskey from across the room. "Everything go okay?"

She shrugged. "As well as expected."

He could see that she was beating herself up over something. It must have had something to do with the meet. However, with the way she was acting, he could tell that she did not want to talk about it.

He went over to her and pushed her up against the wall. "Can I help you forget it?"

"Please," she smirked.

* * *

She woke up the next morning feeling more refreshed than ever. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept that well. She stretched and rolled over to face Happy. She cuddled up next to him.

She couldn't believe that they were finally...together? Together wasn't the right word. Neither one of them were steady relationship material. She figured that Kozik's words of "bumping uglies" seemed more fitting. Whatever was going on between them, it was something more because here she was cuddling against his naked body.

He never cuddled with anyone after sex. He would send the girls packing as soon as they were finished. So it was something unique between them considering she had fallen asleep on his chest.

Whatever it was, she wasn't going to question it. This was probably as peaceful as her life was going to get for a while. She was thankful that Happy hadn't demanded answers from her about the deal she had made with Galindo. She was already beating herself up. She didn't need him to guilt trip her as well.

She traced his tattoos on his chest with her finger. She kept going back to the words that went around his neck. "I live. I die. I kill. For my family." That was how she had lived for most of her life or at least wanted to.

"Why are you watching me sleep?" Happy grumbled. His eyes stayed closed.

She smiled. "I'm not watching you sleep. Just enjoying the calm before the storm."

He opened his eyes to get a better look at her. The sheet was pushed down to her waist exposing her bare back. As if they had a mind of their own, his fingers started tracing her scars one her back.

"I thought about getting a tattoo to cover them up," she whispered.

"Don't," he said quickly. How she had gotten them was terrible, but secretly it was one of his favorite things about her. It showed that she had survived an event that would've destroyed most people.

"It wouldn't look right. The scars are too thick and they're too many of them."

"They make you look like a badass."

"I'm already a badass," she smiled up at him. "So is it just me or is this a little strange? You, me, cuddling together hours after having sex."

He looked away from her. "A little," he grumbled.

"I kind of like it."

His chest shook and as he chuckled. "That's because you finally got laid."

She smacked his chest. "Don't be a dick."

"But you like it."

She rolled her eyes. She reached across and grabbed a joint off the side table. She lit it and took a drag. She passed it to Happy.

"After we're finished with this, are you gonna stick around Charming?" he asked. He didn't want to be clingy. He had just gotten so use to having her around the last few weeks that it would just be strange if she never set foot in Charming again after everything that has happened.

She took the joint back from him. She rolled it between her fingers as she thought over her answer. "I'm not sure. I know I'm gonna have to do some jobs once this is finished. I thought about buying a house here, but I guess it all depends on how the club takes the news about Clay."

He nodded thoughtfully as she took a drag and then passed it back to him.

"We'll see what happens," she shrugged. She stood up, the sheet dropping to the floor. "I'm gonna shower."

He took a long drag from the joint as he watched her bend over to pick up her clothes. "Have you told any of them how you got those scars?" he asked.

She stopped. "No," she said shaking her head. "Juice is the only one who has seen them. All of SAMCRO doesn't need to know how I got them."

"It might make it a little easier for them to understand why you didn't come around anymore," he offered.

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm sure it would make it easier. 'I hated myself so much after I was raped and left for dead that i didn't want to be around anyone. So instead I decided to be a mercenary because that was the only time I felt anything. Sorry.' "

It was Happy's turn to roll his eyes. "Just saying they might be a little more understanding."

She muttered under her breath and went into the bathroom. Happy was gone when she came out after her shower. Once she put herself together, she ventured out into the clubhouse. The common room was packed. There was a mandatory lockdown now. So if you had so much talked to a patched member, you brought to the clubhouse.

"Glad you could finally join us, sweetheart," Gemma said as she leaned against the doorway of the kitchen.

Lily bit her tongue. She was not in the mood for Gemma's passive aggressiveness. "Is there coffee somewhere?"

"Just made a fresh pot," Gemma said as she watched Lily carefully.

"You're a lifesaver," Lily mumbled. She could feel Gemma hoovering behind her as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"All the guys are outside. They wanted me to tell you once you got up."

Lily took a drink from her cup and savored the heavenly liquid. "Thanks for the coffee, Gemma." She went to step past Gemma but she was blocked

"Now with Tara gone, Jax needs you more than ever. He needs you by his side," she said getting inches away from Lily's face.

"Why don't you stand by his side? Oh, right. He already has enough mommy problems," Lily said, standing tall. "Jax is more than capable of living without a woman by his side."

She forced her way past Gemma. She didn't want to deal with Gemma and her shit any more.

Lily went out to one of the picnic tables in the lot and sat down. She surveyed the parking lot as she fished her cigarettes and lighter out of her pocket. Most of the guys were in the garage. Scarlett was talking with Juice on the swing set. It almost didn't seem like there was a impending war.

She enjoyed her coffee and cigarette as best she could. She almost couldn't remember the last time she hadn't rushed drinking her coffee. So much had happened since coming to Charming. She'd barely had time to breathe.

"You're looking like a ray of sunshine," Kozik said as he slid in to sit next her.

"I need a fucking vacation," she said. She narrowed her eyes at him when she realized that she hadn't seen him since he had given her dad's journals to her. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Tacoma has been watching the warehouse and Redwoody while everyone else was trying to get you back from the Horsemen."

Her face scrunched up. "You didn't want to make sure I was alright?"

He bumped her shoulder with his own. "You always make it out okay."

"I didn't think I was going to."

He put his arm around her. "I figured you and Happy needed time to connect," he said grinning. "He looked awfully happy this morning when he came out of your room."

She shoved him away trying not to smile. In turn, Kozik let out a hearty laugh. "I knew you two were gonna happen sooner or later."

"Yeah, yeah," she said rolling her eyes. "Everyone was right about Happy and I."

"The question is why are you so grumpy after finally getting laid?"

"Too many reasons," she grumbled.

"Does one of them happen to be about the deal you made with Galindo?"

"How do you know about that?"

He shrugged. "I know you, and I know a cartel wouldn't just help us without anything in return." He watched her stare into her coffee cup. "How bad is it?"

She looked around to make sure no one would overhear her. "For everyone of Galindo's men that dies, I owe him a favor."

"Shit," Kozik mumbled. Making a deal like that could ruin her life.

"Yeah," she said in agreement before bringing her coffee to her lips. "Coming to Charming has been one giant pile of shit."

"If you hadn't come, a lot of people probably would've died already," he said seriously.

"True," she shrugged. "Instead I've made a deal with a devil and gonna stir up a whole bunch of history with the club."

"That shit has been kept a secret for too long," he said knowing she was talking about everything she knew about Clay. "Things need to be finished."

She watched Jax across the lot. He was overseeing the guys checking the weapons. He deserved to know what happened to his dad even if it was gonna be hard to swallow. Maybe Happy was right about telling the club what happened to her.

"Happy wants me to tell them how I became who I am," she said suddenly. "He says that it will help them understand how I changed."

He looked her over carefully. "I remember how long it took for you to show any resemblance of yourself after that happened. You did what you had to to survive. You don't have to explain that to to anyone."

She nodded as she thought what he said over. "Thanks, Koz. I knew there was a reason you were my favorite."

Kozik flashed his winning smile. "Because of my sparkling personality, right?"

She laughed. "Something like that." She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I love you, Herman."

He draped his arm around her shoulder. "God, I hate it when you call me that. It makes me feel like an old man."

"Maybe because you are," she teased.

Tig walked by with a black bag slung over shoulder. "You just gonna chit chat all day while we work?" he asked looking at Kozik.

"Why you gotta be like this, man?" Kozik said

"Because someone has to remember what kind of asshole you are."

"Alright, boys," Lily said, looking between the two. "Take it easy."

"Of course you would be on his side," Tig muttered as he walked away.

"Fucking asshole," Kozik said under his breath.

Lily rolled her eyes and stood up. "You two are ridiculous." She went to walk away, but he grabbed her hand.

"We'll make it through this," he said confidently.

She forced a smile. "I know we will," she said trying to make herself believe those words. He dropped her hand letting her go on her way.

She went to the garage to help with anything she could. The next couple of days were gonna be long.

* * *

 **A/N: Happy New Year Everyone! This is a little bit of a filler, but it has some fluff**.


	17. Chapter 16

**A/N: Happy Monday! So sorry it's been so long between updates. I'm a terrible person. I'm trying to wrap up all the loose ends as this story only has a few more chapters left. However, the good news is I'm playing around with the idea of writing a sequel involving the Mayans and Galindo calling in his favors to Lily. What do you guys think? Would you read it? It probably wouldn't have any of the Sons in it.**

 ***Trigger Warning* There is mentions of rape towards the end of the chapter.**

* * *

The time had come. They filled into the chapel. It was getting close to when they were suppose to finalize their plans with Galindo over the phone. Lily was one of the last ones to enter, but she stopped in her tracks when she saw Clay sitting at the table. Jax must have asked him and Piney to sit in.

No one noticed her hesitate as they were all getting situated except for Kozik. "Hey," he said, coming up beside her. "Come on. Let's sit down. We'll deal with that later."

She reluctantly let him lead her to the two empty chairs along the wall. The room was packed not only with SAMCRO, but all of Tacoma as well. She could feel Happy's eyes on her as she sat down next to Kozik. When she Lily finally looked in Happy's direction, he winked at her and then quickly looked to Jax.

Jax, of course, sat at the head of the table with the gavel in front of him. Chibs and Happy sat in their respective spots on either side of Jax. The rest of SAMCRO sat around the table. Their chairs squished together to make room for Clay and Piney.

Jax's phone sat in front of him next to the gavel as they waited for Galindo to call. Everyone was quiet; so when Lily's phone started ringing, everyone looked to her.

"You're suppose to leave that outside," Clay said. "Rules are rules."

"And you just follow all the rules, don't you?" She pulled her phone out of her pocket. "It's Galindo," she said, once she read the number on the screen.

"He was suppose to call my phone," Jax said, confused.

She shrugged and then brought the phone to her ear. "Miguel."

"Lily, is everyone there?" he asked.

"Here and ready." She took the phone away from her ear and put it on speaker. "You're on speaker, Miguel," she said, before setting the phone down in the middle of the table. She took her seat next to Kozik again.

"Thank you all for coming," Miguel started.

Lily zoned out. She knew the plan inside and out. She had put most of it together herself. It wasn't going to be easy, they could do it if they put their minds to it.

Kozik elbowed her, bringing her attention back to the phone call.

"If anything changes, I will try to give you notice," Miguel said, signaling the end of the call.

Jax looked around at every single person in the room. They were all family, and he was leading them to war. "Spend time with your families. Do what you need to," he said. "Be back here by 9 tonight."

Everyone started filing out of the room. Lily waited until the room was empty before she moved from her spot. She grabbed her phone off the table. She mindlessly scrolled through her phone as she walked out of the room.

She wasn't paying attention where she was going and ran into a solid chest. he looked up and her heart jumped out of her chest. Clay looked down at her with his piercing blue eyes.

"I want to thank you for everything you've done to help the club," he said cornering her. "I know you have no reason to help us."

It took everything she had to not roll her eyes. Instead, she stood taller and looked him in the eye. "You're right. I have no reason to help you." She lowered her voice. She had had enough of turning a blind eye. "I know what you've done."

"You don't know what you're talking about, girl," he seethed.

"Oh, I do," she laughed. "I know that you had JT's bike sabotaged, and you had my father killed before he got out of prison."

Clay started for her, but suddenly Happy was blocking her from Clay. It didn't stop Lily though.

"I will make sure SAMCRO puts you in the ground or I will," she promised.

Happy started pushing her away from Clay. "Now, is not the time for this, Love." He forced her to look at him and waited for her to nod in understanding. As much as he wanted Clay to pay, this was not the time or the place for this.

She walked with him out to the garage. Happy sat her down on a stool in front of a bunch of motorcycle parts. He knew she needed to keep her mind off of what just happened.

"1970 shovelhead," Hap said simply. "See if you can put it together because nobody else in this shop can." He left her alone to her thoughts and the old motorcycle.

Lily relaxed in the quietness of the garage. She couldn't believe she had lost it like that. Charming had a way of making her lose control. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. She let out a deep breath, and then started working on the engine at her feet.

It was busy work. Something to keep her mind off of everything. She would rather get on her motorcycle until she couldn't hang on anymore, but she hadn't seen her bike since the Horsemen took it.

Putting an old Harley back together would work just as well. While growing up, her and her dad would work on any old motorcycle they could get their hands on. It was what they did in their spare time. It was how Lily was able to put any bike together with her eyes closed.

She had gotten most of the old shovelhead put together. There was just one bolt she couldn't get out.

"Here," Chibs said, coming out of nowhere to help her. He took the wrench from her and tried to loosen the bolt. "I remember coming up to Tacoma for a run, and you were in the garage covered in dirt and grease. By 16, you were a better mechanic than anyone I knew."

"All thanks to my dad," she smiled as she sat on the floor and leaned back against a tool box.

Chibs finally got the bolt out. "Tough little bugger," he muttered as he sat down next to her. He grabbed a nearby rag and wiped his hands clean. He handed it to Lily, who did the same. He watched her wipe her hands clean. She was meticulous about getting all the grease off.

"Has it been hard for you being back in Charming?" he asked, surprising her.

"It hasn't been easy," she said slowly. "It has been a long time and a lot of history."

"Any of that history have to do with what happened between you and Clay in the clubhouse?"

"You heard that?" she asked.

"More like saw it, but yes." He knew that she wouldn't tell him what was going on. So he just moved on to what he really wanted to tell her. "You know, one of the last times I saw you was at your dad's funeral."

"That was the last time I saw anybody from Charming," she said, resting her head on her knees.

He looked at her. "You say that you're not the same person that we used to know, but you're still just as smart and beautiful as you were back then."

She looked at Chibs in surprise. She could sense where this was going. It would explain the way he had been acting. The reason why he had been angry with her when she first showed up.

"Chibs," she started. He quickly looked away. "I am not the same person."

"We all change. You still will do anything for your family. You still care," he said.

"I am not who you think I am," she said, standing up. "I have done things that would make your skin crawl, Chibs. I am not a good person."

He got to his feet. "I am not a good person either, love."

She smiled and shook her head. "I am not somebody you even want to even think about being with. I have done things that would make even Happy look away. I kill people for money."

He stepped towards her. He brushed her hair away from her face. "It doesn't matter," he said. He started to lean in towards her.

Quickly thinking, she dodged him. She put the old motorcycle between her and Chibs. "I can't do this," she said, shaking her head. "You deserve someone better, Phillip." He opened his mouth, but she was gone before he could say anything.

Lily figured it was safe to go back into the clubhouse. She couldn't believe that Chibs had tried to kiss her. Nothing had ever happen between them before. Hell, he was almost old enough to be her dad, but so was Happy... So it's not like that mattered.

The clubhouse was quiet. Everyone was relishing their time with each other before going to face the Horsemen. Some of them were seeking comforts from the croweaters. Families were playing games again. They were trying to make the best memories possible as it could be their last.

She spotted Jax in the kitchen trying to wrangle his boys. He had a sleeping Thomas in his arms while he tried to get Abel out from underneath the table.

Lily crossed the room to him. "Here," she said, holding out her hands to take Thomas. "Let me help you." She could see that he didn't want to give up, but it also looked like he had been at it for awhile. He reluctantly handed Thomas over to her.

"Thanks," he said, before pulling Abel out from underneath the table. He put Abel on his hip. He held out his other arm to take Thomas back.

"I got him," Lily said, holding Thomas close to her chest. "I'll help you get them down."

They went back to Jax's dorm room. She rocked Thomas gently as she watched Jax be a dad. She had yet to fully see this side of him, and it was different. He was a whole different person. Then she realized that it was different for him now. He was doing this alone. He had become a single parent and now had to do the job of two people.

Once both boys were asleep, Jax took Thomas from Lily. He put him down and left the room with Lily.

"You're really good with them," she observed as they walked down the hallway. "I never would have thought that the Jax I knew would be like that."

"The same goes to you," he smiled. "You're a natural."

She grabbed two beers off the bar and held them up to him question. He nodded and lead her outside to the tables.

"I was terrified when I found out I was going to be a dad," he told her. "I thought about running," he said, pointedly.

She glared at him. "I didn't run. I just avoided," she said, holding the bottle to her lips. "There was a lot reasons why I stayed away." She remembered Happy wanting her to tell them about the scars on her back and how she got them. Maybe he was right. She slowly lifted up the back of her shirt. "This is one of them."

"Jesus Christ," he muttered. His hand went to her back. "What happened to you?"

She traced the label on the bottle. "Short story. I almost died."

"Long story?" He met her eyes.

She licked her lips and looked down at her hands. It really was a long story. "I was 20, and I was still fighting every once in a while. I had beaten three guys pretty badly that night, and I won a fair bit of cash. I was walking to my bike. For some reason, I didn't have my gun on me that night. They came up behind me. I had gotten a few good hit in, but it didn't matter.

"I woke up in an abandoned warehouse with my hands tied above my head. The three guys that I had beaten earlier that night stood before me. They took turns raping me. Then, when that got boring, they took box cutters and carved into my back. At some point, I passed out.

"They left me for dead. Happy had found me by tracing my phone. I was nearly dead. I had been laying in a pool of my own blood for hours. If Hap hadn't found me when he did, I would be dead.

"About a month later, after my physical wounds had mostly healed, Happy brought me back to that warehouse. Nothing has ever been as hard as walking through that door. Happy had found those three men and had strung them up just as they had me. Happy handed me a knife, and simply told me to make them pay.

"It was a lot easier than it should have been. By the time I was finished with them, they didn't have any skin left on their backs. I looked each of them in the eye and stabbed them in the heart.

"I walked out of that warehouse a completely different person. Stronger. Fearless. If I could make it through that and come out whole, I could do anything. So when I say I'm a different person than who you knew, it's true."

Jax was silent as he took in all the information. "Why didn't you want us to know?" he whispered, not looking at her.

"I was already the girl that had lost her family. I didn't want to see more pity when you looked at me once you found out," she explained.

"You were my best friend. My family. How could you not trust me with this?" he snapped.

She chewed on her lip, knowing there wasn't anything she could say that would fix it. "Look, I'm sorry. I dealt with it the best way I could." She stood to leave but stopped. "To be honest, growing up with a bunch of outlaw bikers probably didn't help."

"What was it?" he asked.

"What was what?"

"You said that this was one of the reasons. What was the other?"

She smiled. "If we make it through this, I will tell you anything you want."

He mulled it over and then held out his beer to toast in agreement. She clinked her bottle to his. "I want to know all of your juicy secrets," Jax smirked.

"You'll get to know almost all of it. There's some embarrassing details that I will keep to myself."

"That makes me want to know even more," he laughed.

She looked down to her watch on her wrist. "It's almost time. I have to make the call."

"Yeah, please don't forget to tip off the DEA. Otherwise, our whole plan goes to shit."

She smiled and then went to find somewhere quiet to make the call. Once she did this, there was no going back. They were going to war with the Horsemen.


	18. Chapter 17

Lily sat on top of one of the picnic tables smoking a cigarette and munching on some chips. She had already gotten all of her things together. As well as given some of her extra supplies to the club. She was trying to relax, but it wasn't working very well. Since telling Jax one of her deepest secrets, she felt a little more exposed. Sure most of SAMTAC knew what happened to her, but she also hadn't who she was from them.

The TM lot was crawling with people. Everyone was trying to prepare for their assault against the Horsemen. SAMCRO and SAMTAC were gathering all the weapons and supplies when Alverez and his Mayan charter rolled through the gates.

Alverez was greeted by Jax and Chibs. Lily was too far away to hear what they were saying but everything seemed to be civil. They were business partners afterall. Jax and Chibs headed back into the clubhouse, leaving the Mayans with their bikes. That's when Alverez spotted Lily and slowly made his way too her.

"I heard this was your doing," he said, taking a seat next to her.

She eyed him carefully. Since she had met him a few weeks ago, he hadn't been that friendly towards her. She didnt blame him; all he knew was that she was a gun for hire. "I contributed," she said simply.

He chuckled. "That' not what I heard." He folded his hands in front of him. "I heard that this is happening all because of you."

She sighed and snubbed out her cigarette. "Galindo?" she asked. She already knew that's where he heard it from. As much as she liked Jax, he had a habit of taking credit for ideas that wasn't his.

"Si," Alverez nodded. "I never thought it would be a woman that would have Sons, Mayans, and the Galindo cartel working together."

"We all have something to lose if this doesn't work."

"Except for you," he said pointedly. "If this doesn't go our way, you can just go back to your old life since Death Dealers have no loyalties."

She shook her head in disgust. She nodded towards to Jax who was walking out of the clubhouse with Happy, Bobby, Tig, Chibs, and Opie following him. "They are my family. Even if I haven't seen some of them for 15 years, I will fight for them."

"We'll see about that," Alverez said before he went back to his men and bikes.

Jax and the rest of the Sons went to Alverez. Except Happy, who went straight to Lily. She stood as Happy got closer. His arms went around her waist, surprising her. Her hands rested on his chest. She could feel the Kevlar vest under her fingers.

"I see you got my gift," she smirked.

"Yeah, I don't even want to know how much it cost you," he said tightening the velcro straps on her own vest.

"Always so cheap," she commented. "That reminds me. I need to buy condoms so you don't have to reuse them."

"Shut up, woman," he said before crashing his lips into hers. They only broke apart when they heard the wolf whistles from the guys. "So much for keeping this quiet."

She raised her eyebrows. "If you wanted to keep it quiet, you shouldn't have kissed me." She brushed her fingertips over his lips.

He smirked. He wanted to kiss her again, but he knew all eyes were on them. "I'll deal with you later," he growled.

"You better," she whispered. She broke away from him and headed towards his bike.

Bikes began to come to life all around them. Happy handed her helmet to her before starting up his own bike. Before climbing onto the back of the Harley, she took a moment to look around the compound. There was a chance she wasn't going to see this place again. Although, she had gone 15 years without seeing it before, it had once been a safe haven for her.

She caught sight of Gemma standing in the garage doorway quickly wiping away tears. Gemma saw Lily watching her. In a un Gemma like fashion, Gemma gave a small wave goodbye.

* * *

They parked a ways away from the Horsemen's headquarters to not let them hear all the bikes. The walk through the woods was a little longer than Lily liked. Especially when she was carrying 20 lbs of equipment.

It wasn't much further until they reached the edge of the clearing. The building that was suppose to be the Horsemen headquarters was in sight. Jax ordered everyone to spread out around the building. Then they waited until the time was right.

Lily found a stump to sit on while they waited. Happy stood within arms reach from her on high alert. Opie stood with Jax smoking and whispering to each other. It was so dark she couldn't see anyone else, but she could hear whispering around them.

She looked up to the sky to see if she could see any stars, but instead she felt a sprinkle of rain on her face. "Of course, it's gonna fucking rain," she muttered to herself.

"How do we know that this Adam guy is going to be here?" Happy asked, his eyes not leaving the door to the building. Since finding out what Adam had done to Lily, he had wanted to add another smiley face to his collection.

"We don't," she sighed. "But if I were him, it's where I'd be." Happy looked to in question for just a moment before returning his attention back to the building. "They have the meet with the Castillo cartel tonight. Adam may be confident, but I don't think he would chance getting arrested."

"But why would he be here?" Jax asked.

She smiled. "Where are you guys on a Friday night?" she asked pointedly. "At your clubhouse."

"She's not wrong," Opie chuckled.

"Even if he's not here, we're gonna wipe out the majority of his club tonight. He won't be able to do much," Lily explained. "He would be easy to find."

Happy didn't understand how she was so easy going about it. This Adam guy had tried to destroy the club. He had killed Tara just to make a point, and he had let his men beat the shit out of Lily. They needed to make sure he got what he deserved.

Lily felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out. "The DEA's raiding the meet. Galindo's men are hitting Castillo's warehouses." She put her phone back in her pocket and stood up. "If we're going to do this, it's need to be now."

Jax nodded. He motioned for everyone to prepare to enter the building. The building had two doors. So the plan was to have two teams each taking a door. No one would be able to get past them that way.

Lily was going to entering with the majority of SAMCRO. Hap, Opie, Tig, Chibs, Juice, and Quinn were all lining up behind Jax. Lily was at the back, but she was not alone. She was the only thing separating SAMCRO from two of Galindo's men. There was two others with the other team. They weren't entering with them. They were just there to make sure no Horsemen made it out alive.

Jax and the rest of them had ignored the cartel members. She didn't blame them. They were a little on the scary side, but they were only there to help.

She tucked the butt of the rifle into her shoulder. She put everything out of her mind. Her feelings for Happy. Her worries about her promises to Galindo. Her hatred for Clay. None of that mattered right now. The only thing that mattered was putting down as many Horsemen as she could.

Lily followed behind Happy as they entered the building. She kept her eyes open as they searched the rooms. Each room they came to was empty as the last. They came to stairs that led to the floor above. Jax motioned for Happy and Lily to search upstairs.

As they split off from the group to search, they found even more empty rooms. Lily was starting to get worried. It was starting to feel more and more like a trap.

"Where the fuck is everyone?" Happy questioned after finding another empty room.

"Something isn't right," Lily mumbled, looking further into the room. "They're suppose to be here!"She kicked the door shut in anger. "My intel was good!"

"Lily," Hap said quietly. He nodded towards the stack of papers on the desk in the room.

She went closer to the desk to investigate. She shuffled through the papers. "What the hell are they planning?" she said as she looked through more papers.

"What is it?" Happy asked, looking over her shoulder.

"They are planning on running drugs and guns up and down the west coast. From Mexico to Canada," she explained.

"So what?" Happy grumbled. "That's basically what we do."

She rolled her eyes. "You help distribute coke for the cartel and sell guns for the IRA," she said. "The Horsemen are basically setting up a supply line, but with how much they are planning to move, it would be more than double what comes into the states now."

"Does it matter? If everything goes to plan, they won't be a problem."

She pursed her lips. She didn't buy that. Even if they did take care of the Horsemen, whoever they planned on selling to would be coming to look for their product.

There was a large crash somewhere else in the warehouse that made both of them jump. They brought their rifles. Happy stepped out of the doorway scanning the hallway.

When he saw nothing, he turned back to Lily. "Stay here," he ordered.

Before she had time to argue, he was gone. She huffed in annoyance. She went back behind the desk and started looking through everything again. She was gonna find something that would be useful. A name caught her eye in the mess of papers, but before she could investigate further, a large figure appeared in the doorway.

She reached for her pistol on her hip, but stopped when she recognized the long beard. "Opie," she sighed. "What the hell are you doing up here?"

"I'm clearing the building. Nobody is here," he explained. "What are you doing here still?"

She motioned to the messy desk in front of her. "Trying to find some answers."

"We need to get out of here. Something isn't right," Opie said, coming to her side. "Jax sent me to get everyone out so we can regroup." He tried to read over her shoulder to figure out what she was so focused on.

Suddenly, gunfire echoed through the empty warehouse causing both of them to bring their rifles up.

"You sure there is no one here?" she asked as she followed Opie down the hall.

"Don't be a smart ass," he mumbled as they quickly sweeped the building. They could till hear the gunshots but hadn't run into anyone. The further they went, they realized it was coming from outside.

When it went quiet, Lily and Opie shared a look. Silently telling each other to get ready for whatever was on the other side of the door. Opie nodded in acknowledgement before kicking the main door open. Lily followed Opie, but ran right into the back of him when he stopped.

"Why are you stopping?" she asked. She peaked around Opie's large frame and saw Horsemen pointing guns at them. "Oh, shit."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I promise I'm gonna try to update more. Writing can be a bitch sometimes.**


	19. Chapter 18

The whole thing was a fucking setup. The Horsemen had waited in the shadows for them to enter the warehouse, and then when everyone started to come out, the Horsemen were waiting for them. Now, once again, Lily found herself being held against her will by the Devil's Horsemen. This time though, she was shoved into a grimy bathroom with Opie.

They hadn't seen any of the others when they had been taken to the bathroom. They could only assume that everyone else had been captured and were being held somewhere in the warehouse.

From the time she had been taken, she had worried about Happy and how she was the reason they were in this mess. She kept thinking that she should've followed Happy instead of staying in the office. It wasn't like she had found anything anyways.

"What do you think they're gonna do with us?" Opie asked, interrupting her pacing.

"Kill us probably," she said grimly.

He furrowed his brow. This wasn't like her. She usually was already thinking of ten different ways to get out of a situation. "Why?"

"Well, it all depends on if the other parts of our plan worked or not. If Galindo was able to kill the Castillo cartel and the DEA raided the meet, they might keep us alive to barter," she explained. "It's what I would do."

"And if everything was a setup?" he asked, although he already knew the answer.

"Then I wouldn't expect anything else less than a bullet in our heads from them." She was pissed at herself. It was her information that sent them all there. She had been the one to put the plan together. She was gonna be the reason they were all gonna they were all gonna end up dead.

"There has to be some way out of here."

She rolled her eyes. "We're in a fucking bathroom with no windows. So unless you're a fucking wizard and you're trying to go to the Ministry of Magic, we're fucked."

Opie glared at her and then started laughing. "You know, I always thought that it was gonna be Jax that got me killed. Not you. You were always dependable."

"Fuck you," she snapped. "Since I showed up in Charming, I've saved your asses more times than I can count. All I've heard is how I didn't keep in contact with SAMCRO or how I let all of you down. But I didn't hear from any of you after my dad's funeral. Nobody from Charming gives a fuck about what happens outside of Charming."

"That's not fair, Leela," he sighed.

"Oh, that's right," she said, crossing her arms. "It was when you and Jax were prospecting. You were too busy."

"Get your shit together," he grumbled.

"My shit?" she questioned in disbelief. "I'm the most put together out of all of you."

"You're right. Jax and I got wrapped up in our own shit. But that doesn't mean you couldn't have picked up a phone to let us know how you were doing."

"I can't do this right now," she said in frustration. "It doesn't matter what happened 15 years ago. What's done is done. I'm back now."

"Except there's bullets that have our names on them."

She sighed in defeat. She slid down the wall next to him. Her fingers tangled into her dark hair in frustration. "I'm fucked," she mumbled.

"You mean we're all fucked?"

"No," she shook her head. "I mean, yeah if their plan is to kill us. Then yes, we're all fucked."

"But you more than the rest of us?" he questioned.

She snorted. "You can say that." She combed her fingers through her hair trying to smooth it out. "Galindo would only help us if I agreed to owe him a favor for every man that he lost during this..." She waved her hand around. "Mess."

"Shit," Opie said under his breath. Owing somebody like Miguel Galindo a favor was bad news.

"And judging by all the blood that was by the main door, I'm really fucked."

"Yeah, you are," Opie chuckled. She shot him a look, but then started laughing too.

Eventually, the door to the bathroom opened. Both of Lily and Opie looked up from their spots on the floor. Adam stood there with his hands in his pockets and a smile on his face.

"I didn't think we would be seeing you so soon, Lilith," Adam grinned. "Did you miss us?"

She was not in the mood for this bullshit. "If you're going to kill us, just get it over with. My eternity in hell is waiting."

Opie laughed and Adam's smile quickly faded. "If you're in such a hurry to die, I don't want to disappoint you." He motioned to his men. They came into the bathroom and forced the two of them to their feet.

As they walked through the building. Lily was trying to come up with some sort of plan out of there. There was too many Horsemen for her and Opie to take on by themselves.

"I'm glad you came back," Opie said suddenly.

"Really," she said in surprise. "Even though we are basically walking to our execution?"

"Eh," he shrugged and looked down at her. "We ain't dead yet."

"Yet," she whispered.

They stopped in front of doors that led outside. When the Horsemen opened the doors, they were momentarily blinded by the sunlight. Once their eyes adjusted to the light, they saw all of their friends on their knees. Her heart nearly jumped out of her chest when her eyes connected with Happy's.

Lily and Opie were forced down into the mud next to Jax. Everyone was there that had come there with them. With the exception of Galindo's men, which meant she had guessed right about the blood.

"Any last words?" Adam asked everybody.

"You can go to hell," Jax said through his teeth.

"I plan on it," Adam laughed and started walking away.

"Have you forgotten who you're dealing with?" Lily asked in a last ditch effort to not die.

He slowly turned around. "What did you say?"

"I said you've forgotten who you're dealing with."

Adam was in front of her in a flash. "I know exactly who I dealing with."

She felt a barrel of a gun press up against the back of her head. "If you kill me, you will be hunted for the rest of your short life. Every Death Dealer will hunt you, your club, and your family."

"Fuck Death Dealers," Adam seethed. He pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Lily's forehead. "I'm not scared of you and your Death Dealers."

She pressed her head up to the barrel of Adam's gun. "You should be," she whispered. She sat back on her heels, ready for what came next.

The Horsemen that was standing behind Jax dropped first, and then the one next to him. Adam stumbled backwards when he saw his men dropping like flies. Once SAMCRO realized what was happening, they started to fight back.

Lily spun around and kicked the Horsemen's feet out from underneath of him. She pounced on top of him and started to beat the shit out of him. She was pulled off of him. She looked around seeing all the other Horsemen were. Adam seemed to have slipped away.

Lily felt immediate relief when she saw Scarlett and a dozen other Death Dealers walking out of the woods. All of them were fully armed. Some of them helped Alverez and Bobby to their feet, while others went after Adam.

"What the hell just happened?" Jax asked.

"Someone had to save your asses again," Scarlett said.

Happy was in front of Lily in a flash. He took hold of her shoulders and looked her sternly in the eye. "What kind of shit was that? Do you have a death wish?"

She shook his grip. "I do not have a death wish! I needed to remind him what would happen if he did kill me."

His jaw clenched. He didn't like what she did, but that didn't mean he wasn't happy to be with her. "Come here." He pulled her into his arms. "Don't ever do that again."

She relaxed into his arms. "No promises," she smiled. They did it. They took out the Devil's Horsemen, and they made it out alive. Lily looked to Scarlett. "You guys took your time getting here."

"Sorry, we hit traffic," she shrugged. She nodded towards the warehouse. "I think we made up for it."

Everyone turned around to see several Death Dealers dragging Adam out of the building. By the blood covering his face, it looked like he had tried to fight when he got cornered. The Death Dealers brought him to Lily's feet.

She looked down at him, her eyes narrowed. "Are you scared now?" she smirked.

Adam spit at her. Happy jumped between them and grabbed Adam by the neck. Lily bent down to get in his face.

"You will regret that," she threatened. She stood straight and looked to Jax. "What do you think? Carve him away until there's only pieces left?"

Jax slowly nodded. He had no idea what just happened. He just knew that Adam was gonna pay for what he did. "Take him to the reservation."

Happy nodded. "Will do," he grinned. He finally let go of Adam's neck. With the help of two Death Dealers, they hauled Adam off to the van.

Lily turned back to Scarlett. "Thank you for your help," she said while hugging her friend.

"Someone had to save the day," Scarlett shrugged.

"Sorry to interrupt this little reunion," Chibs said. "But can anyone tell us how this went so wrong?"

Lily shared a quick look with Jax. "My intel was good. They must've gotten tipped off somehow."

"You sayin' we have a rat?" Tig said, coming out of nowhere.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, we didn't exactly come quietly. They could have had anybody watching us from the clubhouse to here."

"Take it easy guys," Jax defended. "It's done. We did it. The only blood shed was Horseman and Galindo's men."

"All of Galindo's men are dead?" Lily questioned, her heart dropping.

Chibs nodded. "They were the first ones down."

Lily cursed to herself. That was four favors she owes to Galindo. That also didn't included any men he lost while taking over the Castillo warehouses in Mexico.

"We'll clean up here," Scarlett said. "I'll call you before we leave."

She nodded. "Thanks, I owe you guys."

Scarlett smiled and then headed into the warehouse with the other Death Dealers. Alverez and his men came over to Jax and Lily.

"Somehow you did it, Teller," Alverez said. He shook hands with Jax.

"Thank you," Jax said to him.

Alverez turned to Lily. "Until next time, Lily."

Lily gave Alverez a nod, and watched him and his crew walk away. She feel all of SAMCRO's eyes on her. "Anyone else feel like they need a drink and a shower?"

Everybody agreed. Jax threw his arm over Lily's shoulder. "Let's get you cleaned up," he said before kissing her on the cheek.


	20. Chapter 19

When they had gotten to TM, all the families were happy to see everyone okay. Jax immediately got cornered by Gemma who demanded to know everything that happened. With everyone distracted, Lily was able to slip away to Happy's dorm unnoticed. It wasn't like she had anyone waiting to make sure she was okay anyways.

It was a quick shower. She wanted to get all the grime off of her and then go take care of Adam. She wanted to put all the Devil's Horsemen behind her. There was one thing that would be a reminder until her debt was paid. She wished she could just ignore it, but she knew better. People like Miguel Galindo don't just forget people who owe them favors.

Lily sat down on the bed wrapped in just her towel. She stared at her phone debating if she should make the call now or wait. If she did it now, she would get it done and over with. If she waited, she could pretend everything was okay. That's not how she lived her life; with her head in the sand.

She dialed Miguel's number before she had a chance to rethink it. While it rang, her mind went through all the worst possibilities. Of course, she kept going back to owing her entire life to Galindo.

"Lilith," Galindo answered. "I've been expecting your call."

"Yeah, things went a little south," she sighed.

"How south?" he asked darkly.

She took a deep breath. "They somehow found out that we were coming. They let us search the building. When we came out, they were waiting."

"Well, I'm talking to you so you must've made it out alive."

"Death Dealers showed up. They took care of the Horsemen. We have their president."

"You didn't lose any men," Galindo guessed. "But since I haven't heard from any of the men that I sent, I assume not everyone made it."

Lily sighed and decided to bite the bullet. "Your men were the only ones that didn't make it. Every Son and Mayan made it out without even a scratch."

"How convenient," he chuckled. "Well, lucky for you, I only lost one man down here. So that's only five favors you owe me."

"Five too many," she mumbled.

"You'll be hearing from me," he said ominously.

The line went silent. Lily dropped the phone onto the bed next to her. She was screwed, but she would deal with it when the time came.

After she was dressed, she headed out into the clubhouse. She just wanted to find Jax and head to reservation. She spotted Jax sitting with Chibs at the bar. She went over to him. Chibs saw her coming and stopped talking.

"Hey," she said to Jax. "Are you ready?"

Jax nodded and stood up. "You sure you wanna be apart of this?" he asked.

She stopped and stared at him. "You really asking me that?" she asked. Before they had a chance to say anything, she walked away from them.

Jax shared a look with Chibs. They might have forgotten that Lily wasn't just smart; she was a cold blooded killer. Chibs shrugged in reply.

Lily followed Jax and Chibs down the dirt road in her car. They parked outside the same building they had kept Rooster prisoner. Happy walked outside as Lily got out of her car. He looked her over as they walked towards the building.

"Have you done anything yet?" Jax asked.

"No, waiting for you," Hap explained, his eyes not leaving Lily.

"How do you want to handle this?" Lily asked Jax trying to ignore Happy's eyes

He thought about it for a moment. "Follow my lead."

Lily finally looked to Happy; his dark eyes piercing her. Then they followed Jax and Chibs into the small room. Adam was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. Happy had the foresight to put plastic sheeting down everywhere.

Adam look up with a small smile. He knew what was coming. It was over for him.

"You killed my wife," Jax said through his teeth.

"Who's your wife?" Adam asked. "Cause I've killed so many that I've lost track."

Jax punched Adam as hard as he could in the face. Jax brushed his hair out of his face. "You're gonna pay for what you've done." Jax turned away from Adam and took a Bowie knife off the table in the corner. He held it up between him and Adam. He let the anticipation build and then finally brought the blade to Adam's skin.

Lily stood back and watched Jax carve Adam apart. She was actually glad that she wasn't the one doing the torturing. She saw the blood dripping from the end of the knife as Jax took a moment to catch his breath. It reminded her of that night in a warehouse a long time ago. The amount of blood that covered her hands for the first time.

"You okay?" Happy asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Yeah," she said automatically.

Hap looked at her doubtfully. He could see there was something on her mind.

She sighed when she realized he wasn't going to let it go. She lowered her voice so she wouldn't interrupt Jax. "It just made me think of the first time I..." She licked her lips and looked down at her feet. "I did that." She wasn't a good person. She was a freaking mercenary for Christ's sake. She tried to make up for it, but at the end of the day she was still a killer.

"You did what you had to do," Happy told her.

"I know."

She leaned back against the wall and watched. It was close to being over. Jax wanted to draw it out. He wanted him to be in as much pain as possible.

Adam was close to passing out when he looked to Lily. "Do you not want a piece of me yourself?"

Everyone looked at her expectantly. "If I had it my way, you would be dead already."

Jax pulled out his gun and pointed it at Adam. "Do you have any last words?" he asked.

"Someone else will come and finish this," Adam said. "This is not the end."

"It is for you," Jax said before pulling the trigger.

"We'll get the prospects in here to clean this up," Chibs said as Jax cleaned himself up.

Jax shook his head. "They can clean up the room, but I want one of us to take care of the body. Make sure it's done right."

"Hap and I will do it," Lily volunteered. "You guys can go back to the clubhouse. I'm sure there's a party in full swing." Truth was, she wanted to spend some time alone with Happy.

She could see that Chibs and Jax were still unsure. "Go," she said. "This isn't our first time burying a body."

"Alright, fine," Jax said finally. He came over to her and wrapped an arm around her. "But I better see you there, okay?"

"We'll be there," she nodded. Jax kissed her cheek and then left with Chibs. She was left with Happy in the small room. They looked over the mess. "Just like old times, huh?"

Happy cracked a smile, and then they got to work. They loaded the body into the back of the van. The drive to the woods was quiet. Lily stared out the window as Happy drove. She couldn't see anything as it was pitch black outside.

When they finally got to the spot, Happy turned to her. "You can stay here," he told her. "I can do this myself."

She smiled and reached out to touch his arm. "You know how much I love to dig holes."

"I just thought you might've gone soft since you have people clean up after you now," he smirked.

"Shut up," she glared at him.

They got out of the van and went around to the back. Happy took out the shovels and handed one to Lily. She followed Hap to the spot he had picked out, and they started digging.

Every once in a while, Lily would catch herself watching Happy. She would get a glimpse of his muscles flexing in the moonlight. This wasn't the first time they had dug a grave together, but it was the first time since they realized they had feelings for each other.

"Are you going to keep staring at me or are you going to help?" Happy grumbled.

She leaned against the shovel. "Why did it take us so long for us to finally sleep together?" His eyes flashed to hers. "Just imagine all the great sex we could have been having."

"Loveless," he warned. He did not like having a job unfinished, but she was making it hard to say no.

"Come on, Hap," she said, making her way around the hole to him. He dropped the shovel and automatically took her into his arms. "We should make up for it now," she suggested. Her hands went up under his shirt.

"Here?" he asked in surprise. They were in the middle of the woods. Surrounded by unmarked graves.

She shrugged. "Why not?" Her hand came to rest on his abdomen where his smiley faces were. "We're messed up individuals."

"You don't know what you're asking, woman," he warned.

"Then show me," she whispered.

Hap didn't even let her think twice before he pushed her up against a nearby tree. Her legs wrapping around his waist.

"Fuck me like you mean it, Lowman," she said seductively.

His mouth attacked her neck. He found a spot that made her let out a loud moan that drove him crazy. He tore her shirt off in a flash and her bra along with it. He ducked his head down to her bare breast. He was obsessed with her body. The softness of her skin was intoxicating. The curves of her body were addicting. He couldn't take it any longer. He had to have her right then.

He set her down on the ground. He turned her around to face the tree. His hands dipped down into the front of her pants. "Are you wet for me?" he whispered in her ear. She moaned in reply. "No, say it."

"Yes," she managed to mumbled as his fingers found a rather sensitive spot.

He smirked and sucked on her earlobe. He unbuttoned her jeans and forced them down over her round ass. He ran his hands over the curve of her ass. His fingers dipped into her folds to see for himself how wet she really was.

"My god, woman," he moaned when he found she was dripping wet.

Lily heard his belt and his pants drop. He took a hold of her hips and brought her back to meet his hips. He moved his hips in just the right way so she could feel every inch of him. One hand reached around to her breast while the other lined himself up with her entrance. He was taking his time with her. They were in the middle of the woods, but he wanted to savor her.

She couldn't stop herself from moaning when he slowly slid into her. He gave her only a second to adjust before thrusting into her. His movements were precise. He knew exactly what to do to make her fall apart. They had only been together a handful of times, but he spent their time getting to know exactly what made her fall apart.

He was getting to his release, and he knew she was getting close too. He nipped at the sensitive spot on her neck at the base of her jaw. He reached around and started rubbing her clit. He could feel her start to fall apart around him. She cried out in pure bliss as she came. It only took Happy two more pumps before he found his release.

She leaned back against him as he stayed inside of her. He wrapped his arms around her trying to catch his breath. "You're going to be the death of me, woman," he mumbled against her skin.

She turned her head to kiss him. "Good," she whispered.

They finally pulled apart. Happy quickly pulled up his pants. As he did he belt buckle, he watched Lily dress.

"I can feel you staring at me," Lily smirked as she pulled her shirt on over her head. She saw the hole that they had been digging before they had gotten distracted. She couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked. He had no idea why she could be laughing so hard.

"We really are fucked up," she said through her giggles. She motioned towards the unfinished hole.

The corners of his mouth lifted up. "You liked it."

She smoothed out her hair. "Damn straight," she smirked. "We should probably finish this. We're missing the party. They'll wonder where we are."

"It's worth it," he grumbled.

She smiled as she picked up her shovel. "We should do this more often," she said suddenly.

"Burying a body or fucking?" he asked as he started digging again.

She thought about it for a moment. "Both."

The muscle in his jaw twitched. "That's gonna be hard to do when you leave." It was only a matter of time before she left Charming. She needed to deal with Clay, and after that there was nothing keeping her there.

"Actually," she said slowly. "I've been thinking of buying a house in Charming."

"What?"

She shrugged. "I mean, it depends on how Jax and the club handles the news about Clay, but it might be nice to have a home here. I would still have to travel for work. It would be better than staying in your crappy apartment."

"Hey, not all of us can have twenty houses all over the country."

"And not all of us reuse condoms," she said pointedly.

"Are you ever gonna let that go?" he grumbled. "That was one time."

"Never," she smirked.

They finished burying the body. It felt good to be finished with the Devil's Horsemen. The Sons were safe for now.


End file.
